Does it make sense to remove water from the coop at night to lessen the humidity in the coop?

[saysfaa]

I set out to do the math or at least feed the mumbers into an online calculator.

I picked 1 square foot (929 square cm) for the surface area (way more than a standard waterer or dog dish type waterer.

1 mile per hour (1.6093 km per hour) for wind speed (the calculator wouldn't accept 0).

32 degrees F (0 C) for the air temperature.

60% humidity (the lowest daily average humidity in my area in winter - it is an afternoon reading. Night will nearly always be higher).

The result is

0.010243 pounds per hour.
Which is 4.646 grams per hour.

I looked through research papers for "Moisture production" by chickens. I found many studies that measured that and looked at the ones that measured all the moisture (not the ones that measured only respiratory). Also, studies that used gas chambers as they are more accurate than open barns or such.

The lowest rate of moisture production I found is 4 grams per hour per kg of body weight at 20 degrees C (70 F).

Many results were in the teens or low 20's. One paper said chickens produce more moisture at lower temperatures which surprised me but matched what I saw that on the tables.

Pushing all the estimates to greatly favor open water in a coop being a problem and it still contributes less moisture to a coop than a single bantam hen would.

 

[saysfaa]

I did not factor in the temperature of the water vs the air. That does matter but not very much as long as the water temperature is under about 40 F (4.5 C). Based on looking it up a few years ago when I was deciding on a water system for my chickens.

 

[Folly's place]

There's no way I will be out there at early dawn to get the birds out of their coop, and so there's always water, on a heat plate in winter in the coop areas. Good ventilation matters!
I also have a thermometer/ hygrometer in each coop area, so I know how the humidity is compared to outside. It's always close, or the same.
Tiny poorly ventilated closed up coops aren't healthy, with or without a waterer being present. Birds want to drink when they get up in the morning, and before roosting.
Mary