post your chicken coop pictures here!

[MI-Homesteader]

The coop is 18" off the ground to provide shade and also an area to go during winter months out of the snow, i am curious if i should put sand under it to help them cool off during the summer. I do plan on putting things in the run for them to play on though

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome! I shouldn't think putting sand under there would make much difference... They're going to make bomb craters under there to dust bathe in, and to lay eggs in.

The good and bad of allowing them under there in the first place.

 

[Intheswamp]

True but the natural convection will do the same thing more slowly without melting your ice so quickly and the water at the bottom of the system will still be cooler.

The problem with pump circulation is the water is moved over more surface and unwanted heat exchange happens along the pipe surfaces so the ice melts quicker without cooling the water at the bottom.

The unwanted heat exchange is what will warm the water up in the pvc pipe. I understand that the coldest water will be at the bottom...of the insulated cooler. Once it leaves the cooler and enters the uninsulated pvc pipe then the outside heat begins that heat exchange. If the water sits stagnant for a while, which it will, then the warm outside air will heat up the pvc pipe which will then heat up the water inside of it that is presented to the chickens. My desire is to negate or reduce that heat exchange.

I agree that circulating water will melt the ice quicker but it does seem it would maintain a cooler temp in the pvc pipe... ????

 

[perchie.girl]

I think the first bullet is the important one for the discussion of heat exchange.

• The first law, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system.
• The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of any isolated system always increases.
• The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches absolute zero.
• Source: Boundless. “The Three Laws of Thermodynamics.” Boundless Chemistry. Boundless, 02 Jun. 2016. Retrieved 27 Jun. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/chemistry...23/the-three-laws-of-thermodynamics-496-3601/

IF you want to chill water down the tube through a system you will have to circulated that water.... easy enough to do water circulation can be done through a simple air pump.... Been done in aquariums for a very long time. What this will do is bring all the water to the same temperature.... by adding in a chilling element through non mingled water you can circulate that as well the heat exchange happens between the two water sources which can be delivered either through stainless tubing or thin walled PVC tubing in the form of black drip irrigation tubing....

Its worth an experiment for sure. But is it really worth the time and effort? wouldnt it be better to insulate all water sources from direct sun? Here loading ice into a cooling unit would be Very impractical.

I been working on this idea for some time..... But for a different purpose... Desert heat. At 110 degrees you will percieve coolness when you step into the shade... but it will still be 110 degrees ambient temperature. Where the chickens suffer is in the nest boxes... Water tubes buried in the soil along with a great volume of water will keep the temperature the ambient temperature of the soil. Again closed loop system either driven by a windmill or solar powered pump. under the nests those tubes would come into contact with the nesting material... This would help the eggs too as they rolled out and into the catch basin underneath. Give me time to gather before they too became 110 degrees.

Again is it worth the time and effort? Probably not.... There are several ways to create a chill box for storing vegitables and it only involves water..... Evaporation and insulation. All static systems. and Used in third world countries.

Zeer pot



So.... An adaptation would be Terracotta pipe sleeve..... room for sand PVC exiting source for chickens to drink.... fill the sand container up with water.... as it evaporates it chills the container down about 15 degrees.

deb

 

[TerryH]

Can I get some sort of diploma or college credit for attending this class? Seriously, the wealth and depth of information here is pretty amazing. I thought I was an in-depth researcher. I stand corrected.

 

[MeepBeep]

The problem with pump circulation is the water is moved over more surface and unwanted heat exchange happens along the pipe surfaces so the ice melts quicker without cooling the water at the bottom.

Just for riddles doesn't the same exact thing hold in the winter where you suggested circulation works?

The idea is to try and equalize the entire body of water in this case and drop the temp of the water coming out of the nipples, it doesn't matter if the water inside the cooler is 50° if the only water the chickens are getting out of the nipples is 100° that is what one is trying to avoid, much better to melt the ice inside the cooler and raise the water temp in the cooler as long as we also drop the temp at the nipple as intended... Sure the ice will melt faster if the water is circulated into the warmer parts of the contained system but that is inevitable if one wants to cool the water in those parts of the system...

 

[Latestarter]

Man... just install central air for them then none of this will be needed

 

[MeepBeep]

Man... just install central air for them then none of this will be needed    

If I had the money I might, but the furnace to keep them above freezing all winter is all I'm willing to commit to right now as 1800 sqft of building is a lot to cool with those vents open... And being a sunken building it actually stays a good 10° cooler or more on most days on it's own...

But a small fact, many commercial poultry houses do in fact have Heating/AC so that production doesn't drop in cold/hotweather

 

[TerryH]

And a frig with ice and water in the door. You could install a peck valve like chicken nipples have so they could dispense it at will. No really. e

 

[Intheswamp]

Deb, yes, i intend to keep the waterers out of direct sunlight...that's a given. I've seen the terracotta water coolers, they're an interesting thought. Maybe the water itself in the cooler and pipe will be conductive enough to keep the temperature of the water at the nipples at slightly cooler that it would be without any ice at all.

Thanks for the input from everybody...I'll now slink back into the shadows as I feel I've hijacked this thread enough. Once I tinker with the ideas some I'll post back in a separate thread.

Best wishes,
Ed