Ventilation In Hot Humid Climate

[beedude]

Central Florida... Hot and Humid. Is good natural ventilation sufficient or are fans necessary?

 

[welasharon]

I built open air pens and haven't needed fans here in North Florida.
sharon

 

[Capvin]

I am in Central Florida and it has been a hot summer and the heat continues. I have a small fan in the coop, a ceiling fan in the run, a misting system in 1/3 of the run, a spot cooler for the run during the day. I also change their water a couple of times a day, give them cold watermelon, put out a shallow pan of water for them to walk in and cool down. I think it is much more difficult for chickens in hot weather then in freezing cold. Right now you should be OK without much because it is not in the mid to high 90's as it was. Lots of ventilation is a must. If you see them panting and their wings out then you will need to do more. I pamper mine because I want them to be comfortable.

 

[elmo]

If you have natural shade, I would recommend you site your coop/run there, because it can make a big difference. The first coop/run I built was open sided, but I put it someplace in our yard where it gets afternoon sun. Big mistake. Our most recent coop/run is in the shadiest part of the yard, and the temp differential between the two was running over 20 degrees. 105 is bad enough; 125 is ridiculous.

I ran a mister on the worst days, and that really helped bring down the temps in that area a good 5-10 degrees. I did bring my bantams indoors at night for a while because the night time temps were dropping down only into the high 80's, and I thought the flock needed to get some relief from heat stress.

I would also recommend you pick heat tolerant breeds if you can. Our d'Uccles start panting around 90 degrees, but our Serama/Old English scarcely seem to get bothered even at 100.

 

[welasharon]

Very important about the shade. I have vines growing on the sides and top.

 

[TigerLilly]

I am a couple hours north of Capvin; I agree with elmo--I have a 3-sided, covered kennel coop/run in the shadyest part of my backyard. The humidity here is unbearable most of the time, but my BO's, EE's, BA & BR have gone thru 2 summers w/o any problems. I don't use any fans plus I let them free range, so they usually end up next to the coop in the shade after they do their exploring.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

No fans, no misters. Just plenty of ventilation, shade, and fresh water. Nothing else necessary.

 

[7L Farm]

I live in a climate that is similar to yours. I'm into three sided coops they are the ticket to our long hot summers. It has been triple digit heat wave for three months. I'll show you mine but notice the positioning of the coop. The flag in the picture is our prevailing wind in the summer. So, you can see the wind is blowing directly into the coop. The walls will block the winter north

winds to protect the birds in the winter. One other note if you notice the deck above the coop this really helped shade the birds from the sun.

 

[crossgirl]

A.T. Hagan :

No fans, no misters. Just plenty of ventilation, shade, and fresh water. Nothing else necessary.

Yup. That.
When we started our flock, we didn't get any chicks imported from elsewhere. Everyone is from established local backyard flocks and they've been fine. I don't know how out of state chickens would do. Mine pant, but have the good sense to get into the shade.​

 

[TheJuan-n-Only]

Hello there......my girls seem to do just fine in an open air coop...