What type of fan works best inside coop?

[Nicole01]

What type of fan works best to install to keep the chickens cooler from the summers heat?

I was thinking either a ceiling fan or a metal fan($100 one or more) and install on the wall pointing towards the roost.

What would work best? I don't know if those high quality fans have an adjustment.

Once we install the fan, our coop is 100% complete!

Our summers get pretty warm. I'm glad it's only a short period of time. Dealing with winter weather is much easier.

 

[SmokinChick]

Add more windows and provide shade outside of the coop. If possible. Maybe add a ridge vent or gable vents. I wouldn't blow air onto the birds, but try to evacuate the hot air thereby drawing in cooler air. Chickens don't sweat so they will not benefit from air blowing over them. Plenty of water and you should be fine.
Good luck

 

[cafarmgirl]

Very hot here in the summer. My chickens have a coop that is enclosed on three sides, open on one side and the roof is hardware wire to since it's inside my goat barn. It's pretty open and airy but I have a fan anyway. The roof of the coop is where I installed it, just one of those round, metal ones. It points right down to the roost. On 100+ degree days when it stays hot and sticky well into the evening those chickens fight over who gets to sit in the breeze from the fan. I tried just aiming it into the coop, not at the roost, but they just moved to where they could sit in the breeze. They may not sweat but the air moving over them helps dissipate the heat from their bodies and helps them feel cooler anyway. On the hottest days they all disappear into the coop mid-day and that's where they can be found, sitting on their roost under the fan, happily preening away and napping through the heat of the day.

 

[dawg53]

I have one fan inside the main coop blowing air out the rear vent. Fresh air is pulled in through the side vents. Keep in mind that you dont want direct airflow blowing on the chickens. I have fans in the pens to circulate air during our humid torrid summers.

 

[7L Farm]

Any wind blowing on the birds will definately help on hot summer days. Windows do help but fans are nice as well. Its fricking hot here I mean hot. You add our humidity to the heat here & its terrible. I couldn't imagine being a chicken wearing a down jacket all the time. I have a little fan in my coop during the day I face the fan towards their nest boxes at night towards their roost.

 

[NightsInWhiteSilkies]

A few of you have said you dont want the fan blowing directly on the chickens.
Just curious to ask why is this not okay?

 

[7L Farm]

A few of you have said you dont want the fan blowing directly on the chickens.
Just curious to ask why is this not okay?

Not cold wind but when its a hundred ten dagrees it will help having it blow right on them.

 

[NightsInWhiteSilkies]

Thats what I was thinking too.
Not when its cold out but when its really hot I would think they would like the extra wind blowing at them in their coop on them.

 

[ivan3]

When the temp. hits 105° F they appreciate the moving air. Have sand in run so we spray the run sand that the fans are aimed at (cooling through feet). Use the same kind of fan, in pic, hanging from hook over back window of coop (pulling air through coop). Direct blowing into coop simply keeps too much `dust' moving inside coop for no appreciable benefit (applies to large box fans).

 

[Judy]

I run a box fan all summer, blowing out, and the coop is plenty airy, much like a 3 sided coop. They fill with dust and have to be replaced every year or so, but they cost all of about $15.

I agree with breeze being a good idea in summer. They hold their wings our from their body when it's really hot, and open their mouths; surely moving air helps cool them a little. You don't want a draft directly on them in winter, but hot weather is a different story.

If you live where the humidity is low, a swamp cooler is a good idea -- a search should turn up some plans -- basically, a fan pulling air through something wet like some moistened hay. Some people use misters -- if you can get chickens to go under them. A shallow pan of water that they can stand or walk in helps, too, again if you can get the chickens to go in it. You can also rotate frozen milk jugs of water inside a large plastic bin, sort of a small, air conditioned room. Some people also rotate chunks of ice in the drinking water. I imagine they at least appreciate not having to drink hot water. Or even lay frozen milk jugs on the floor -- if they will cuddle up to them.