My young chickens are panting. The “feels like” temperature has been regularly reaching the 100s in the afternoon here. Their coop today was 88 (which is at least cooler than the 94 actual temperature outside the coop). There is a fan in the coop (which I regularly dust to remove buildup). I put out ice water foot baths (which my chickens love). I give them watermelon straight from the fridge.

My Mom mentioned a DIY project using a fan and a styrofoam cooler to make an air conditioner. I did it. I had a styrofoam cooler from a medicine delivery, used an extra accessory for our shopvac as the air outport, and bought an inexpensive clip-on corded fan for the air intake.

I cut holes in the cooler to fit the tube and fan (here is a decent youtube tutorial), and put ice packs (also from the medicine delivery) in the cooler.

I could definitely feel the cool air when I turned on the fan! I started with the cooler in the enclosed section of the work table in the coop, so the chickens couldn’t pick at the styrofoam, but felt like the cool didn’t reach the chickens. So I put the the cooler in a plastic storage bin (it fit! Phew!), which has a fold down, two-part lid.

Sliding the plastic bin under the work table keeps the chickens out, and off, but allows the cool air to blow near ground/chicken level.

The chickens were all lined up in front of the cooler, so I think they appreciated the relief. It certainly didn’t lower the temperature of the whole coop, but just made an area of slightly cooler air.