Humidity

[Dragon Queen]

I live in SC and am battling high humidity inside and outside the coop. Their coops are full of moisture making their straw a mess and attracting hoards of flies. I had my husband add another vent up high in hopes of helping cut it down. Should I keep all their water outside during the day (currently I keep one outside)?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Chiquey]

Georgia here. I'm brand new to this so I'm not an expert by any means. I use straw in my coop and run, and so far I'm not having major problems. I clean all of the straw out of the coop at least once a week and replace it. I have two heavy duty mud flaps beneath my roosting poles. (No clue where hubby found those.) I pile extra straw on those so that I can easily rake off the top layer each morning after they've made their nightly roosting mess. A couple of times a week I rake all the straw to one side of the run and sort of turn and fluff it so it can dry out. Every couple of months I take most of the straw out to use as garden mulch and replace everything. This sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn't really take that long. Anyway, I love hanging out with my girls.

 

[Dragon Queen]

Thanks Georgia. I found through another source today that using sand works well. I'm also going to keep their water our of the coops until nightfall that way it doesn't add to the humidity. I'm going to give these a shot and hopefully the humidity issue will dry up.

 

[4 the Birds]

I live in SC and am battling high humidity inside and outside the coop. Their coops are full of moisture making their straw a mess and attracting hoards of flies. I had my husband add another vent up high in hopes of helping cut it down. Should I keep all their water outside during the day (currently I keep one outside)?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Straw in the coop is not a great bedding choice (very difficult to clean and remove poop). You may want to switch to pine chips. You can get a big block at Tractor Supply for 5 bucks. Opening up your coop as much as possible will help as well as keeping it dry. I open coop doors to the run and keep the rain out with roofing in the run. Dusting your bedding and poop boards with DE will also help keep things dry. I also use a livestock safe insecticide power in the coop to control nuisance flies and insects.

 

[RonP]

Thanks Georgia. I found through another source today that using sand works well. I'm also going to keep their water our of the coops until nightfall that way it doesn't add to the humidity. I'm going to give these a shot and hopefully the humidity issue will dry up.

Your birds do not drink at night, they sleep.

Keep the water out 24/7.

 

[ChickenPapaCT]

I'm totally new at this too.

I've heard that if you have too much humidity in the coop, you may need more ventilation. This is a good article on coop ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

I also heard that sand is good in the coop and run for keeping the moisture down. Here's a good article on sand: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/09/chicken-coop-bedding-sand-litter.html

I hate flies. Good luck!

 

[6of6chicks]

In a little bit north of Galveston TX and am drowning in humidity too. I'm having good luck with ventilation on 3 sides for cross breezes and pine shavings in the coop (TSC flake shavings, not fine). I have a thick layer of dried grass clippings in the run and have ZERO fly problems. I'm sure there are one or two zipping around, but the chickens take care of those before I even see them. I keep food & water in the coop (because sometimes momma chicken likes to hit snooze and doesn't always get her butt out there on time, lol!), and it's still completely dry in there. Maybe it's also because my coop is in the shade?

My guess would be that the straw is attracting the flies and maybe not enough ventilation for a breeze. Maybe a fan would help? Like a big box fan set on low?

 

[ChickenPapaCT]

I like the fan suggestion! (Nice coop 6of6 !)