Humidity-sometimes ya just can't beat it.

[Feathyr]

Sorry that some of you guys lost your birds; that's terrible. This is a nasty time of year. I'll take it over summer temps, though. We don't get all that humid where I live, but every now and then everything feels soggy.

Adding a thin layer of zeolites to the floor can help keep the condensation out of the shavings, though it won't remedy the problem. I try to keep the bedding aerated; seems to help a bit.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Remember....

You could reduce the ventilation temporarily and definitely dry out your coop. I have a pool in a fully-enclosed metal carport that I heat with a wood stove. Without it's drying heat water will be dripping off the ceiling; with it it's bone dry.

 

[lazy gardener]

Shalom H....!

Shalom back at ya, Benny. I'll trade you some of my snow and ice for some of your luscious citrus fruit!

 

[Akrnaf2]

Shalom back at ya, Benny. I'll trade you some of my snow and ice for some of your luscious citrus fruit!

No need to trade! you are welcome to have as much as you want! All the trees are full ,lemon, tangerine, yellow grapefruit, red oranges exploding with fruits! Last winter was good one, and it shows! I am thanking for God gifts!

 

[lazy gardener]

God does give incredible gifts. I am forever thankful for His blessings in good times and bad.

 

[thomasboyle]

I give my hens corn after they come in for the night. I sprinkle it around the inside coop, and that keeps them digesting through the night. But as others have said, don't feed only corn.

We had 3" of rain yesterday, and then the temps went from 60 to 16 in 12 hours. The metal cabinets in my unheated garage have condensation all over them. Locks and latches that were wet are not frozen, so I have been using a propane torch on them to get them working again.

 

[aart]

You could reduce the ventilation temporarily and definitely dry out your coop. I have a pool in a fully-enclosed metal carport that I heat with a wood stove. Without it's drying heat water will be dripping off the ceiling; with it it's bone dry.

Closing off the ventilation is not really possible...open eaves have no 'doors' to close.
The situation in my coop in my climate is what it is...it seems alarming, but the reason I posted the story was to show that it isn't necessarily a catastrophe.

I give my hens corn after they come in for the night. I sprinkle it around the inside coop, and that keeps them digesting through the night.

I give scratch in the morning, the birds all fill their crops with their crumble feed before going to roost, I regularly check crops at night. This is an instinct that really needs no incitement.

 

[thomasboyle]

Aart, how do you check a chicken's crop?

 

[Cryss]

aart, if I check crops I do it in the morning to make sure its empty. What specifically are you looking for by checking at night?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Interesting thread.
This winter has been extra cold here like most others.
First winter in 4 or 5 years that I've been seriously worried about our birds. I've been ready posts about peoples birds doing well with way below zero temps. We've been in the negative teens some and below zero quite a bit. Its brutal.
All these ventilation threads have been interesting but I'm in the same boat as you. Its humid here. 87% right now. Ventilation isn't helping when you're sucking in 60%, 70% or 80+% humidity.
That wood stove has some merit. With our humidity I never add water to incubator except once for lockdown. I started hatching again. First batch went great but the second I had one of my worst hatches ever. I figured it out. We're heating with wood and it has sucked the humidity out of the house so my last hatch didn't have near the humidity they needed. I'm adding water every day now and its still running a bit low.