Coop Humidity

[Froghorn]

What should the humidity level be in my coop? I am running 85% and can't seem to get it down.

 

[Mahonri]

Where do you live?

What kind of ventilation do you have in your coop?

 

[Froghorn]

I am in Northern Wisconsin. Right now the temp outside is about 20 and going down. I have the windows cracked but can't seem to get the humidity lower then 85%

 

[True Grit]

I bet we have similar weather right now and my coop is at 25 degrees and 60 percent humidity. I only have one window down about an inch and a hole in the ceiling that is open only a little. Do you have a waterer in your coop? Mines outside. Coop is 4x4 with 5 hens.

 

[Froghorn]

I am thinking of adding some sort of heat to try to bring it down.

 

[Froghorn]

I have two windows cracked about 1 to 2 inches. The coop is about 30 degrees. I have a waterer in the coop. I have approx 30 chickens. My coop is at least 12X12. I don't want to open the windows more because of dropping the temp to low.

 

[patandchickens]

First, have you checked your hygrometer (salt method) to see how accurate it is. Many are badly off.

Supposing that your hygrometer IS accurate though, I would agree that 85% is really pushing your luck on the humidity and merits trying to do something about.

The most obvious thing to do is open more ventilation. Yeah yeah, I know, it will get colder in there. 'Sokay. Chickens typically do COLD just fine, it is sorta-cold-and-real-humid that gives you problems like frostbite. 30 is still *warm* for chickens. Windows don't generally make very effective cold-weather ventilation though, as they're more apt to cause draft on the chickens and also they let out less-humid air. See my ventilation page and cold coop page (links in .sig below) for more info and suggestions.

If your issue is with water freezing, then address that separately, don't be thinking you should keep the coop above freezing just to keep the water liquid (bad idea). Bring out fresh water daily or several times a day, or get a heated waterer or waterer base.

Also, can you manage sanitation to decrease moisture in the litter. A droppings board under the roost, cleaned every morning (takes literally like 10 seconds), will remove a considerable amount of ammonia and moisture from the coop right then and there. Being more proactive with the bedding cleaning (and not trying to do composting-style deep litter, if you are already having humidity problems) will also help. And of course make real sure you are not having waterer spills/leaks nor rain leaking in nor moisture rising from the ground if it's an earthen-floored coop.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[teach1rusl]

Do you have ventilation up high (decently ABOVE the heads of your birds while roosting)??? That will help a lot in getting the warm, moist air out. Of course if it's high humidity outside, then you're going to have high humidity inside too... I think ideally, humidity would stay below 60% inside the coop...

 

[elmo]

What's the humidity level outside the coop?

 

[Froghorn]

Thanks Pat for the info. I have a bit of correcting to do on my coop.