Ideas to help keep coop cool. Fast!

[RooBeeC]

I live in WI and recently moved. My old coop location was in the shade so the coop stayed nice and cool. We moved to a previous farm field that has very little trees or shade. We got a 10x16 ft shed for a coop and built a 24x36 ft run. I was so excited to get my feather friends in the coop! That is until the sun started baking the coop. I didnt even think of this as an issue. I put a shade tarp over 15 ft of the run. I also insulated the ceiling of the coop, which helped a bring the ceiling temp down by like 15 degrees. I give the flock ice water too. I will plant some trees but that will take time to give shade.

Any ideas to help cool this coop off more? And fast?!

 

[CaroleW]

I'm in Arizona - we have a mister system in our coop. Before I made tthe misters I had a cotton table cloth (any cloth that holds water even burlap or a thick cotton sheet will do, then I spray it down with a hose or a sprinkler to keep it wet. When the breeze blows it's an evaporative cooler. I don't think this works very well if your humidity is already high. I also put a heavy shade cloth over all of this. (I'm in a very dry , hot climate - maybe not like your own).

EDIT: I also have a mostly hardware cloth "coop" for max ventilation. If your coop doesn't have windows or vents you might need to make some for a breeze to blow thru.

You could maybe take some tree branches and cover your coop roof if you don't have shade cloth.

 

[Mandwah]

My son's loft room gets sweltering in the summer and we put frozen bottles of water in his room in front of a fan which helps no end. Makes condensation as heat used to melt it so has to be in a shallow container to catch the drips. The heat's a killer. Could you scale this up to big frozen containers ? Could you plant bigger trees rather than waiting for them to grow? Also some varieties of bamboo is fast growing and get very tall. Before I re-sited my 10'x 12' run I put cover over the area so that the sun could not shine inside at all during the day. Could you add more doors for ventilation? I leave front and back doors of coop open during the hot days so laying chickens didn't overheat. Just thinking out loud and would be interested to hear how other owners cope too.

 

[RooBeeC]

any ideas help, thanks! The coop as two windows and large double doors on one side that are about 6 ft wide total. I cant believe I didn't think of the sun baking the coop! I have a fan in there too. I just bought another one that oscillates so hopefully that will help. When i get trees I plan to get a few bigger ones! I think part of the problem is when its hot its also supppper humid too!

 

[Alaskan]

You can put up more shade cloths, so more of the coop is shaded from the sun... think pretend trees.

And in this case, wind at perch level is completely what you want!!!! Just when you open up the coop more, put up awnings to make the new openings shaded.

 

[Folly's place]

Shallow pans of cold water for them to walk in. Running that fan (safely!). Try hosing off the roof during the hot part of the day. An old picnic table to stand under, or other shade producing objects that don't block air flow.
Fast growing native trees and shrubs! Depending on your soil, spruces on the north and west sides for winter wind protection. I have a river birch on the south side of my coo, and viburnums, and they grow fast! American cranberry bushes (another viburnum),
My coop has mature white spruces on the west side, and it's cooler under there than anywhere else in the yard!
Mary

 

[Rachaels Zoo]

I live in WI and recently moved. My old coop location was in the shade so the coop stayed nice and cool. We moved to a previous farm field that has very little trees or shade. We got a 10x16 ft shed for a coop and built a 24x36 ft run. I was so excited to get my feather friends in the coop! That is until the sun started baking the coop. I didnt even think of this as an issue. I put a shade tarp over 15 ft of the run. I also insulated the ceiling of the coop, which helped a bring the ceiling temp down by like 15 degrees. I give the flock ice water too. I will plant some trees but that will take time to give shade.

Any ideas to help cool this coop off more? And fast?!

I have an evaporative cooler in with my babies currently. They range during the day and go in at night and it keeps it nice and cool! If you have to keep them in during the day as I did not too long ago every couple hours I put ice in the evaporative cooler with the water and it felt like air conditioning! They love it they all tend to roost right in front of it to feel their feathers blowing in the wind!
I also put ice or frozen peas in their water as well as everyone has said haha

 

[Grey Gables]

Hi! I’m in Ohio and we’ve had some pretty intense heat and high humidity lately. I purchased a couple battery operated (camping) fans from Amazon and clip or hang them around my run. It’s helped keep the air moving and the temp lower. My chickens seem more comfortable since doing this. I also leave one in the coop in the morning while they’re laying their eggs. I just bring them in every night and charge them. I also bought sun shade cloth and made my own shade curtains to hang on the outside of the run where there’s sun. I can roll them up and tie them if the sun has moved. Super easy and effective! Working on adding grommets to them so I can hang from hooks this weekend.

 

[speedy2020]

If you have 18V Ryobi battery, you can buy the Ryobi bucket misty fan for $90 from Home Depot. I planted plum trees around the coop. It produce lot of fruit for human and chicken threat.

 

[aart]

Got pics, inside and out?

My birds are confined with no great deep shade for last half of the day so I have to be vigilant during heat waves. I do have shade cloths up on run, which helps, but still not deep shade.

To help cool down the coop I also have a box fan in the east window of coop, where it's shady most the day, and turn it on late afternoon...blows cooler air into coop and pushes hot air out.

To determine heat stress levels I go by activity level, if panting and wing holding seems extreme, I throw out a few treats to see if everyone is moving well.

Deep all day shade is best but....I don't have much of that.
This has worked very well to keep heat stress/stroke at bay:

I give a dose of Sav-a-Chick electrolytes/vitamins about once a week during heat waves.
It really seems to help....started this after they saved a heat stroked hen once.
Can mix up a smaller amount, just wrap the packet tight and store in a dry cool place.
Always have plain water available too.

BIG(9x14x2") chunks of ice last all day for wading, sitting, and sipping.
Much more useful to the chickens than frozen foods and treats.

Make space in your freezer!