Looking for ways to keep coop cool?

[Jesseanne]

Temperatures have been right around 100 degrees for the last several days. Coop is hot, hot, hot!! There are 2 windows and the chicken door that are opened and and in the afternoon, I open up the walk in door. Even at night it is hot in the coop. How do you all handle the heat in your coops?

 

[halo]

My coop is hot hot, too. I have a Handi House that is my main coop, and it has 2 doors. The one opens out to the covered run, the other one I dont use. I just yesterday opened the other door, propped it open, and covered the opening with chicken wire. Made a world of difference inside the coop. I close the door at night, since chicken wire, you know, but I now have 2 doors open in the coop and theres a breeze thru it now.

 

[3goodeggs]

Last year I did a search for this very thing. Search words are not my strong point, so I will just tell you what I learned.
Air conditioned garbage cans and boxes. Put a box on it's side and place a frozen jug of water in it. The girls can come and go as they need. A gator fan-(ha-ha- I guess I am)..Anyway, I meant a swamp fan(?) A fan with a mist nozzle at the end-with the mist being blown away from the fan. Evaporative cooling. Also, clean out the freezer of last years garden veggies and fruits, It's a refreshing cool down for the hens. I remember more things were suggested, but those are the ones I use.

 

[flgardengirl]

Ventilation up near the roof...heat rises so you want it to go out the top, shade on the coop itself, shade cloth, lots of windows, I use misters in the run but not in the coop. You could run a small fan mounted up high inside the coop where the chooks can't get to it. If you don't want electric, you can get a battery operated one and use rechargeable batteries.

 

[3goodeggs]

Also, if you have your coop in the sun, a sprinkler on the roof will help.

 

[teach1rusl]

I bought a little window fan for mine and put it on one of those ThermoCubes so it comes on at 78 degrees and goes off at 70. Of course it hasn't gone off much over the past week or so.

Right now it blows into the nest boxes because I felt so bad watching the girls sit in there trying to lay, panting away.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Home Depot has these cute little misters you could use. If you have power in your coop, set up a fan on one side blowing out. It will pull air through the coop. Works wonderfully if you have one side that is shaded. Pulls the cool air in as it pushes the hot air out

 

[americancowboy]

I have heard that planting a dense grass roof is the best option for reducing building temperatures. So why not use this idea in a coop design. If you have a flat roof on top of your coop plant grass or any type of plant there that helps keep the temperature down. I am in the process of making a coop like this myself.

 

[write2caroline]

I run the sprinklers for my girls but they don't like it too much!
Caroline

 

[Dora'smom]

We have mist tubing that can be easily hooked up to the garden hose, tacked to the rafters of the run. We also fill and freeze old water bottles and toss those in the coop, and give them very cold water melon, or other melon pieces, cold. This year, I'm thinking of putting a very shallow pool, just a few inches of water in the run, under supervision. We'll see how that one works.