REVIVING THREAD : See post #14 : EXTREME HEAT areas : Cooling your flock

[BlossomSilkies]

We are in Arizona, today it will be 113 degrees I think. We are considering a small window air conditioner for the coop, something we can set at say 85 or 90.

Tell me about your air conditioned coop and how it works and if the chickens know enough to go in there in the heat. And how much of a difference it's made in your electric bill.

On top of that, the mister and moisture in the run is attracting at minimum 80 zillion flies. Gotta dry that up I think. I've also been giving them a spray down to cool them off in the afternoon, but again, the damp ground is attracting a lot of flies.

 

[fireguy56]

Hi...I live in Southern Louisiana where it gets in the high 90's and high humidity. When I came up with my coop design after looking at alot of other designs on BYC, I decided on lots of windows, built under shade trees on my property and installed central a/c blower motor up high on one end of our coop. Go to my page and check it out.
Erik

 

[ThinkingChickens]

Fireguy, your "coop" is insane. Heck, I'll move in there and start paying rent.

 

[southerndesert]

I am up Wickenburg way in Morristown, AZ and same temps (114 in shade today) We have a small fan on in the hen houses, water in the coops by the food, water in the large fenced areas surrounding the coop, as well as water available when they are out free range in afternoons. Also we wet the soil and fill a shallow pan that they can get their feet wet in and I believe that helps allot since they all use it. We buy only pullets from AZ chickens figuring perhaps they are better adapted to our heat and so far we have no heat related deaths to report for the many years keeping them here in AZ. They pant some, but don't show much else heat stress wise and we rarely keep birds past 3 years so have no older birds to worry about most times. They also have plenty of shade available...

 

[WatWasIThinking!!!]

Very nice coop Erik.

 

[maclady]

Fireguy--your coop is terrific. Love your koi pond also. I like the idea you had with the blower for air movement.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Lovely coop! But do be sure to check that fan motor frequently (daily?) and clean out the dust so it won't clog and burn out. That tends to be a problem with fans in chicken coops unless you use one of those fans specifically designed for dusty environments like poultry barns.

 

[silkeysandra]

We have an exhaust fan--greenhouse type--at the back of our storage building that is used as a coop. It works good enough to keep air moving in the front door--left open a crack like 6 inches--and out the back with the fan. It does get about 95 in there, but mostly hens stay on my porch which I wet down in the afternoon to help be cool. They only pop inside the coop to lay their egg in their cage/house, then back out with their friends. I think the exhaust fan wasn't expensive and hubby put it in ok. We run it off of a heavy duty extension cord, construction rated, from the house. Not to code, but best we can do until we redo with an electrician.

 

[Judy]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1029682#p1029682

This is a post about swamp coolers, in a thread about cooling coops. You are in the right climate for using one with your dry air.

I only recall reading once about someone with A/C in their coop. I actually have a couple of used window units sitting around in a storage building right now, but my coop is much too open air for one to be of any use in there. We do run a fan all summer.

 

[BoltonChicken]

Temps here now and for the next two months will be high 90's during the day with humidity in the 60's to 80's. Although chickens are tropical birds we do observe the following when heat is a problem:

Make sure the chickens have shade, preferably under a tree.
Provide lots of water.
Provide lots of ventilation. Fans if necessary. If you live in the desert southwest or other areas with low humidity, misters could be an option.
Provide a dirt floor (under shade) where they can scratch and give themselves dirt baths.

When a bird pants it is its way of removing heat from the body. Just like when we sweat. It is not a sign of distress, but it is an indicator of heat.

Commercial growers here who keep chickens in one bird per square foot conditions use fans, and lots of 'em, to move air throughout the chicken houses. Because of our humidity they do not use misters.
They do not use ice water, wading pools or anything else that seems so neat to a human, but doesn't mean a thing to a chicken. BUT, by all means do it if it makes you feel good.

Nobody, and I mean nobody uses, or has heard of anybody using air conditioning on chickens.