SUMMER HEAT for chickens

[ZANEYchickenguy]

I was reading on how more chickens can die in the heat than the cold and that really hasn't gotten me nervous. It is my first year with chickens and Summer comes by fast in Oklahoma. I am thinking of installing a fan in my coop though I'm not sure if I should be above the roost or etc. Can somebody tell me their thoughts on having a fan in the coop? I am doing the deep litter method so my coop is probably going to be really hot in the summer.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

A fan is a good idea! The most important thing, though, is unlimited access to fresh water. If you put the fan in the roof blowing out and leave a window open, it will pull fresh air in through the window. You can also put an air filter on the fan or the window to minimize dust.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

You can also freeze treats in ice and hang it up for your chickens to play with. And make sure there's plenty of shade!

 

[Ridgerunner]

What does your coop look like? How big is it, how is it laid out, how is it ventilated? Is it metal, wood, or plastic? Is it shaded at all? Photos could help. Often the coop isn't the issue, with decent ventilation it's usually cooled down by the time they go to bed. Usually the issues are during the heat of the day outside. But there can be exceptions. I don't have a clue if you have anything to worry about or not.

Where are your nests and what do they look like? Are they on the south or west side and enclosed so they can become ovens? Are they one a cooler shadier side? Are they open so heat can escape or enclosed so heat is trapped? To me, nests can be dangerous, depending in what they look like.

Hot air rises as long as it has heavier cooler air to replace it. Do you have vents up high so the hot air can escape as it rises? The best place to have a vent to let cooler air in is where the air is cooler. In the northern hemisphere where you are that's probably on the north or northeast side where it is shady. Your pop door can work while it is open but you might want a vent you can close in winter. My coolest spot is actually on the south side since it's a well-ventilated shed there. Each situation is unique, that's why you can't make blanket statements.

Heat is dangerous, it is possible your coop is a trap. But my worst problems are during the heat of the day. I find shade and clean water a big help. When it is really hot I water down a shady spot in the run so they can lay on that damp soil. The evaporation cools them and in those conditions the run doesn't stay wet long enough to cause a problem.

If you want a fan in the coop, put a fan in the coop. Remember chickens generate a lot of dust so use an outdoor fan. Remember water and electricity do not mix. But you might be better off blowing it across the run, depends on what you are actually working with. Some people even make a swamp cooler, misting water in front of a fan to create a cooling effect.

 

[kerbotx]

I'm in Texas, with a large walk-in coop; the west wall of siding comes down in the summer, with welded wire & hardware cloth on the inside. I use one fan on the floor, to draw cooler air in, and one fan at the ceiling, to blow hot air out. I even point a fan at the nest boxes when it's really hot, and sometimes just close off the nests completely, so they'll use the nests out in their run, where they are shaded.

You might reconsider doing deep litter in the summer.

 

[3KillerBs]

My personal rule of thumb to know if my ventilation is adequate is:

If I put my head and shoulders into the coop on a hot, sunny day, is the coop warmer than it is outside? If yes, I need more ventilation. That's why I have the little window next to the nest boxes in my Little Monitor Coop.

Heat rises, so make you that you've got vents at the top of the coop so that it can escape.

If you are going to use a fan make sure that it's rated for outdoors and/or agricultural use. The wrong fan will, at best, fail. At worst it will start a fire because it gets clogged with dust.

On the advice of the experts here, I gave my birds electrolytes at least once a week in hot weather last year. But only in addition to plain water, not instead of plain water.

 

[3KillerBs]

PS, are you doing Deep Litter -- a moist, actively composting system that creates heat -- or Deep Bedding -- a dry system that is not actively composting? The latter doesn't create heat so it's just as useful in the summer as in the winter.

 

[K0k0shka]

I live in the Northeast but even here summers get brutally hot. I have a walk-in coop (5x7) with lots of open areas - wrap-around 6"-tall vents at the top of all the walls, plus two large windows and the human door is replaced by a screen door in the summer. I have two fans in there (cheap clip-ons from Amazon) - one is in a window, to draw cooler air from the outside and blow it at the roosts, and the other is up at vent level to get air moving through the vents.

Despite all that, it gets ridiculously hot in there in the summer (I have a remote thermometer inside). The biggest problem is inside the coop, not outside. The coop is a shed-like wooden structure with a shingled roof. It's under a large tree. And with all the open vent areas. It still gets up to above 100 degrees inside, often 110, and retains heat well into the night. It never gets that hot outside, barely breaks 90 most days, just high 80s and very humid. My run is very shady. So the chickens are okay during the day, but pant at night. So, in my case at least, the problem is inside the coop, but there isn't much else I can do. They have food and water outside in the summer, so they have fewer reasons to go in during the day, and at night, it starts to cool down in there a bit after midnight, it just takes it a very long time to even out the temperature with the outside.

So I'd say open up as much as possible, replace the human door with a screen, open lots of windows, replace a whole wall with HC if you can. And yes, the fans help, too. I had mine set on a timer, to only blow when the chickens are inside to sleep at night. Didn't have any problems with clogging or dust or burning out.

 

[aart]

Here's my thoughts:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[Coop de Grille]

We built a harware cloth wall 4 ft inside the doors of our coop. We're in South Carolina and it's hot in the summer. We also added extra vents all around the top for when the doors need to be closed up. Since it's all hardware cloth I can keep the big doors open in the summer all night long.