Thank You for all the Heat Tips that have been given

[Twoleggedmotherhen]

I wanted to Thank Everyone for all the tips in keeping chickens cooler in the heat.
Here in Western WA, we don't get high temps all summer long, but always have high humdity. We got ready for hot temps that were coming in for the next several days. Yesterday the high temp was 87 at our place, today they are saying higher
We fully shaded the run (instead of half like we had) with a heavy duty tarp, put the silver side out to reflect sun away. It goes down half of the sunny side of the run too. Hens opened beaks a little at 3:00 pm. I changed their water and put ice blocks in, and a foot cooling pan. At 4:00 ( heat of the day) I gave them chunks of frozen pureed pumpkin. Not once did I see the open their wings or heavy panting. Will do the same thing until we get back to our normal temps.
But Thanks to all the tips available, I knew what to do and not worry so much.

 

[dawg53]

87? That's a cold front for us lol. We have high heat and high humidity all the time.
I have a box fan in the main pen and a small rotating fan in the smaller pen. My coops are elevated and both fans fit under the coops respectively. I have one fan inside each coop blowing air out a vent, creating indirect airflow coming in through the other vents.
I put ice blocks in plastic containers also, out around noon time, that way the water stays cool late into the afternoon.

Send us some cool temps when you get the chance!

 

[micstrachan]

Nice job, both of you! @dawg53, can you show us how you situate your fans in the coop? I’ve been blowing air in through the lower pop door on hot nights, but don’t have a great place to put a fan to pull air out the top. I did make them a removable screened door where the upstairs human accesss is, which seems to help.

 

[Twoleggedmotherhen]

87? That's a cold front for us lol. We have high heat and high humidity all the time.
I have a box fan in the main pen and a small rotating fan in the smaller pen. My coops are elevated and both fans fit under the coops respectively. I have one fan inside each coop blowing air out a vent, creating indirect airflow coming in through the other vents.
I put ice blocks in plastic containers also, out around noon time, that way the water stays cool late into the afternoon.

Send us some cool temps when you get the chance!

We are use to mid 70's. 80's is hot to us. Will try to send cooler temps that way but mountains might say no lol

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Nice job, both of you! @dawg53, can you show us how you situate your fans in the coop? I’ve been blowing air in through the lower pop door on hot nights, but don’t have a great place to put a fan to pull air out the top. I did make them a removable screened door where the upstairs human accesss is, which seems to help.
View attachment 1469345

How is it removable? I need to make something like this. Great idea!

 

[micstrachan]

It has hooks on top that hang from hooks on the wall by carabiners. Another option would be to put a hinge opposite the permanent door hinge (so it swings the other way), but my latch is there. My building skill level is pretty low, so I just did what I could manage on my own. I was thinking of making another one for the main human access door.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

View attachment 1469524 It has hooks on top that hang from hooks on the wall by carabiners. Another option would be to put a hinge opposite the permanent door hinge (so it swings the other way), but my latch is there. My building skill level is pretty low, so I just did what I could manage on my own. I was thinking of making another one for the main human access door.

Yes! Thank you! My building skills are low too! I am going to show my hubby!

 

[micstrachan]

That’s funny. My husband is actually a general contractor who could have built the Taj Mahal of chicken coops and runs, but he’s kind of done with the chickens. I’m on my own now.

 

[dawg53]

Here's some pics for you. The small black fan is inside the small coop that houses my 3 Barred Rocks. I put it on medium speed at night, blowing air out the vent. Indirect airflow enters through the other 3 vents. You never want direct airflow on chickens, especially at night. A rotating fan underneath the coop blows throughout the day. On real hot days, the 3 BR's will gather under the coop on the cool sand and catch a nice breeze. I set it at medium speed as well. (The high speed button doesnt work lol.) More pics to come from the main coop in my next post.

 

[dawg53]

Here are pics from the inside of the main coop. It's much bigger and plenty of room for my 7 growing pullets. I prefer standard breeds. In this batch I'll have 2 larger birds than usual, a Light Brahma and a Jersey Giant. In this group I also have 3 Speckled Sussex, 1 RIR, and 1 EE.
I have a stand up fan inside the coop. Again blowing air out a vent and set on medium speed. Underneath the coop is the box fan. I set it on medium speed also. The pullets arnt used to the fans and tend to shy away from them, but they'll eventually get used to them.
Also is a pic of the entrance to coop that the birds use to get in and out of the coop. I always attach fine mesh window screen to the entrance and use a razor blade to cut strips so the birds can walk freely in and out of the coop. The screen greatly reduces mosquitos, flies and gnats from getting inside the coop. I use small mesh hardware cloth on all vents, then I put screen over the hardware cloth to deter insects as mentioned. The small coop has the same set up as well.