Chickens don't sweat, do they?? So will a fan....???

[teach1rusl]

Was standing in front of my coop fan the other day "testing" it (mid 90s plus very humid), and for some reason I started wondering whether it would "cool" off a chicken the way it cools me off. I mean, a fan makes humans feel cooler because it helps dry our sweat, therefore we feel cooler. But chickens don't sweat do they??? So is it even making a difference to my chickens, just moving the air??? Do you see what I'm saying?
Of course a window fan can pull in cooler air if it's cooler outside the coop than in, but what if the temps in and out are the same?

 

[BoltonChicken]

It doesn't cool a chicken in the same way it cools you. A chickens body temp underneath the feathers is about 101 degrees. When you see them holding out their
wings on a hot day it is to allow the heat to escape from their body. If the outside temp is near or at 101 degrees nothing escapes. So what a fan does is to ruffle up
their feathers and move out the hot air. I hope I stated this clearly.

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
Yes, for some reason I never considered the "wind" ruffling their feathers to help release heat. I think I'd started 2nd guessing myself about fan(s), wondering whether they were only making ME feel better thinking I was helping cool my birds down a bit. So I feel better knowing it's actually helping, at least a little.

 

[flnatv]

All I know is I put my chickens in the back yard to free-range the other day and put a fan out... they all stayed in front of the fan... the heat index was 112.
They would go off into the shade and peck around, but always went back to sit in front of the fan. Had some funny looking feathers after that.

 

[Newbie in Screamer Al]

HMMmmmm......... My run is 1/2 covered, so I think they are OK out there. I put a fan in the coop for when they lay, but I faced it out to exhaust the heat, and pull outside air in thru the other windows. You think I should reverse it and blow air in? They seem to be doing fine as it is. I turn it off at nite as it gets down in the 70's. R

 

[Happy Chooks]

No chickens do not sweat. That's why they pant.

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
Well, I was PRETTY sure they didn't, which is what got me to thinking about whether a fan was actually making a difference to them or not. I knew they panted to release heat (because mine have been doing a LOT of that over this past hot/sticky week), and held their wings out, and I thought they released some heat through their combs (I didn't make that up did I?). I guess I overthought whether the fan would actually help them feel cooler or not. Bolton's explanation makes sense to me though, so I feel better.

 

[poseygrace]

I just put a fan in the run where my chickens are and they all ran away from it! The run is half shaded, half sunny, and I put it in the shady part. They all ran into the sunny part to escape the evil fan. Silly chickens! Hopefully they will soon realize the benefits of it.

 

[Chickeninthemeadow]

Newbie in Screamer Al, :

HMMmmmm......... My run is 1/2 covered, so I think they are OK out there. I put a fan in the coop for when they lay, but I faced it out to exhaust the heat, and pull outside air in thru the other windows. You think I should reverse it and blow air in? They seem to be doing fine as it is. I turn it off at nite as it gets down in the 70's. R

Al, I did the exact same thing. I have a modified Purina Coop with lots of extra windows. The coop is under a shelter half, so I didn't put much of a roof on it, just open hardware cloth windows basically 60% plywood, the rest open hardware cloth. It stays dry as rain doesn't get into it with how far into that shelter half it is. I put a box fan up there to help pull out the rising heat. I'm thinking of putting a second fan blowing across in there, but would hate to block their beautiful picture window. *lol* So, any thoughts?​

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Yeah, the hose is evil too.