temp/humidity monitoring

[3KillerBs]

I know I don't NEED to. But... I like to. Does that make sense? I like seeing that it is dryer and a bit warmer inside the coop I built.

The thing is to not go overboard transfering human experience as bare-skinned mammals to well-feathered birds. We're different creatures with different needs.

I have a small (though well built) coop and 7 healthy chickens, and that ventilation standard would imply that almost an entire wall of my coop would need to be ventilation

Well, yes, that's often the case with very small coops. One of the reasons that little prefabs can be so problematic.

But look at my brooder here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/run-to-outdoor-brooder-conversion.76634/

For a 4'x8' structure I have 16 square feet of permanent ventilation -- the top 8" of all 4 walls -- and an additional 10 feet of supplemental ventilation -- the full end wall and part of the door.

If I put adults in there I can theoretically house 8 of them, which means that I have double the suggested permanent ventilation -- tripling that with the supplemental vents open.

 

[sals_chicks]

Well, yes, that's often the case with very small coops. One of the reasons that little prefabs can be so problematic.

It's not pre-fab at all. It's a small 4x8' coop/run that we spent 4 months building. This picture is back in the spring before it was totally complete. There are 4 windows, a ridge vent, a 16" gable vent on the run side, and quarter-inch soffit holes all along the roof as well.

I think I can say without hesitation that this was enough ventilation for the summer with my flock, because the end windows were open pretty much all summer except in bad weather.

NOW, with the windows all closed up for the past week, I can tell you there is no odor, and my relative humidity readings are 10% dryer inside than outside. Which is pretty much right in line with where they were all summer.

I am trying to determine if that is good, bad, or otherwise.

Also - your profile says you live in NC? Would your brooder have that same exact amount of ventilation if your winters averaged low temps of -4F to 15F degrees?

 

[3KillerBs]

Also - your profile says you live in NC? Would your brooder have that same exact amount of ventilation if your winters averaged low temps of -4F to 15F degrees?

If I lived in a colder climate I probably would want something more solid than the tarps that are fastened down with clothespins to secure my supplemental vents, but the top vents would still be perfectly appropriate since the ventilation they provide is completely draft-free.

I might, however, use some form of Ohio Brooder in it for a dual level of heat provision or I wouldn't brood chicks until later in the spring.

You might find my inexperience coping with a cold spell instead of blistering heat amusing: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ay-night-so-im-nervous-advice-wanted.1514590/

If I lived in a cold climate I'd have wanted a Woods Coop instead of the Open Air design for my main coop. I strongly believe that abundant fresh air is one of the keys to good health for humans and animals alike.

 

[sals_chicks]

If I lived in a cold climate I'd have wanted a Woods Coop instead of the Open Air design for my main coop. I strongly believe that abundant fresh air is one of the keys to good health for humans and animals alike.

Oh completely agree!! I’m just trying to be a bit methodical and find the proper balance of ventilation while maintaining a bit of warmth. I know I can keep adding holes…… I can’t take them away as easily.

Still, no one has answered my question.

I’m glad you survived the cold spell!!

 

[saysfaa]

...Questions for the rest of you that monitor these things...
1) Is your coop staying warmer than 5-10 degrees above outdoor temps? If so, what are you doing to make that happen? Should I be looking for higher inside temps?
2) Is a 10% lower humidity reading "good enough" or should I be looking for something lower than that to keep my flock from experiencing any frostbite issues?

Hopefully someone out there is a nerdy overthinker so I dont look completely insane.

Depending on your definition of "monitor", I did last winter. I paid very close attention to temperature, humidity, and airflow. I used equipment to measure it only a few times, though.

I have an unconventional design that many people (some in other venues, like real life) told me wouldn't work. I paid close attention to see whether I needed to change to my back up plan. I also measured on several days to communicate more precisely than "I can tell", lol. And I'm in the nerdy overthinker camp too.

Anyway, here is the thread with the results
post 145 and 153 and several later.

The short version is when the weather service said it was about 19.7F and about 61.2% relative humidity outside, inside measured 35F and 34% relative humidity. I only had an indoor "humidity monitor" so it wouldn't register below freezing.

I think that is accurate based on how when and how fast the snow melted off my boots inside when it was below 20F outside. And when my face would sting outside vs inside and when the snow would crunch when you walked on it - last January I could have told you precisely what temperatures those happened, it was really consistent but I don't remember now.

Either way, zero signs of frost damage to even the leghorns' combs or wattles through the coldest months. We reached low single digits for a few days and sustained below 15 for weeks straight.

I would call it "reached" warmer than 5-10 degrees F rather than "stayed". It was only warmer in the daytime.

I did it by leaving a 4' wide, 7' high door open day and night all year. You jested about that in a later post but it did work. Because the other three walls were closed off, there was no draft. Because there was such a wide opening, there was lots of gentle air flow. Edit to add: perhaps I should note that proportions do matter - 4' open with a 10' depth works. Based on being in three-sided livestock shelters, woodsheds, and such there is a perhaps surprisingly wide window of what works but at some point it will be too deep or too shallow to work well with a given width. I don't know where those lines are.

I have no electricity (neither wired nor solar) in the building; the warmth is from the sun shining on the bedding and such.

I don't think this is the only good way to do winter but it is "a" good way.

The pictures are from last winter except the one from last fall. The fall picture is because it shows how the sun comes in; I have some from winter showing it coming even further into the coop because the sun is lower but this shows my chicks in better poses. In the sunny winter ones, they have their heads bent into their feed dish.

It gets a lot warmer inside on sunny days, of course. I don't think it matters much. They seemed as comfortable either way based on their attitudes and activities and lack of frost damage. In the summer, they have some shade from trees and I open the windows and eaves too, so the sun shining in isn't too much.

 

[sals_chicks]

I did it by leaving a 4' wide, 7' high door open day and night all year. You jested about that in a later post but it did work.

Thanks for posting!! I am heading over to look at your other post @saysfaa but this part is something I have been thinking more about. I do plan to put some plastic up around the lower parts of my run to help cut drafts down as well, and the coop does have a run-facing window that is 1'x3' as well - it is the matching window to the one you see on the opposite side in my photo. I think it makes sense that I could open that window (as needed) for additional ventilation without creating a draft into the coop. I will have to do some draft-testing now while it is still "kinda warm" outside.

 

[PicoFarm]

Depending on your definition of "monitor", I did last winter. I paid very close attention to temperature, humidity, and airflow. I used equipment to measure it only a few times, though.

I have an unconventional design that many people (some in other venues, like real life) told me wouldn't work. I paid close attention to see whether I needed to change to my back up plan. I also measured on several days to communicate more precisely than "I can tell", lol. And I'm in the nerdy overthinker camp too.

Anyway, here is the thread with the results
post 145 and 153 and several later.

The short version is when the weather service said it was about 19.7F and about 61.2% relative humidity outside, inside measured 35F and 34% relative humidity. I only had an indoor "humidity monitor" so it wouldn't register below freezing.

I think that is accurate based on how when and how fast the snow melted off my boots inside when it was below 20F outside. And when my face would sting outside vs inside and when the snow would crunch when you walked on it - last January I could have told you precisely what temperatures those happened, it was really consistent but I don't remember now.

Either way, zero signs of frost damage to even the leghorns' combs or wattles through the coldest months. We reached low single digits for a few days and sustained below 15 for weeks straight.

I would call it "reached" warmer than 5-10 degrees F rather than "stayed". It was only warmer in the daytime.

I did it by leaving a 4' wide, 7' high door open day and night all year. You jested about that in a later post but it did work. Because the other three walls were closed off, there was no draft. Because there was such a wide opening, there was lots of gentle air flow. Edit to add: perhaps I should note that proportions do matter - 4' open with a 10' depth works. Based on being in three-sided livestock shelters, woodsheds, and such there is a perhaps surprisingly wide window of what works but at some point it will be too deep or too shallow to work well with a given width. I don't know where those lines are.

I have no electricity (neither wired nor solar) in the building; the warmth is from the sun shining on the bedding and such.

I don't think this is the only good way to do winter but it is "a" good way.

The pictures are from last winter except the one from last fall. The fall picture is because it shows how the sun comes in; I have some from winter showing it coming even further into the coop because the sun is lower but this shows my chicks in better poses. In the sunny winter ones, they have their heads bent into their feed dish.

It gets a lot warmer inside on sunny days, of course. I don't think it matters much. They seemed as comfortable either way based on their attitudes and activities and lack of frost damage. In the summer, they have some shade from trees and I open the windows and eaves too, so the sun shining in isn't too much.

NEATO!

 

[PicoFarm]

Depending on your definition of "monitor", I did last winter. I paid very close attention to temperature, humidity, and airflow. I used equipment to measure it only a few times, though.

I have an unconventional design that many people (some in other venues, like real life) told me wouldn't work. I paid close attention to see whether I needed to change to my back up plan. I also measured on several days to communicate more precisely than "I can tell", lol. And I'm in the nerdy overthinker camp too.

Anyway, here is the thread with the results
post 145 and 153 and several later.

The short version is when the weather service said it was about 19.7F and about 61.2% relative humidity outside, inside measured 35F and 34% relative humidity. I only had an indoor "humidity monitor" so it wouldn't register below freezing.

I think that is accurate based on how when and how fast the snow melted off my boots inside when it was below 20F outside. And when my face would sting outside vs inside and when the snow would crunch when you walked on it - last January I could have told you precisely what temperatures those happened, it was really consistent but I don't remember now.

Either way, zero signs of frost damage to even the leghorns' combs or wattles through the coldest months. We reached low single digits for a few days and sustained below 15 for weeks straight.

I would call it "reached" warmer than 5-10 degrees F rather than "stayed". It was only warmer in the daytime.

I did it by leaving a 4' wide, 7' high door open day and night all year. You jested about that in a later post but it did work. Because the other three walls were closed off, there was no draft. Because there was such a wide opening, there was lots of gentle air flow. Edit to add: perhaps I should note that proportions do matter - 4' open with a 10' depth works. Based on being in three-sided livestock shelters, woodsheds, and such there is a perhaps surprisingly wide window of what works but at some point it will be too deep or too shallow to work well with a given width. I don't know where those lines are.

I have no electricity (neither wired nor solar) in the building; the warmth is from the sun shining on the bedding and such.

I don't think this is the only good way to do winter but it is "a" good way.

The pictures are from last winter except the one from last fall. The fall picture is because it shows how the sun comes in; I have some from winter showing it coming even further into the coop because the sun is lower but this shows my chicks in better poses. In the sunny winter ones, they have their heads bent into their feed dish.

It gets a lot warmer inside on sunny days, of course. I don't think it matters much. They seemed as comfortable either way based on their attitudes and activities and lack of frost damage. In the summer, they have some shade from trees and I open the windows and eaves too, so the sun shining in isn't too much.

Love the photo with the sunrise (sunset?) and your coop in the snow. Bucolic!

 

[Vicky Ann Painting]

Hi All - Heading into my first winter with the flock, so I apologize in advance for my over-thinking. I should also add that I am a Data Analyst by day, so... this is kinda my thing.

I have had a hygrometer (one in the run and one inside the coop) to monitor indoor/outdoor temperature and humidity readings. Over the summer I was mostly monitoring for high temps in the coop, and making sure that my inside humidity was never higher than my outside, though on excessively rainy days, it would be about the same inside vs. outside.

Now, where I live it has started getting cold at night (below freezing), so I am starting to see my first sets of cold readings, and just wondered if anyone else has comparison data to share, or what readings would cause you to make changes to ventillation?

For the past week I am seeing that inside my coop tends to be between 5-10 degrees warmer than outside, and about 7-10% LESS humid that outside. This is with the deep litter method in place, and only 7 birds in my flock.

Questions for the rest of you that monitor these things...
1) Is your coop staying warmer than 5-10 degrees above outdoor temps? If so, what are you doing to make that happen? Should I be looking for higher inside temps?
2) Is a 10% lower humidity reading "good enough" or should I be looking for something lower than that to keep my flock from experiencing any frostbite issues?

Hopefully someone out there is a nerdy overthinker so I dont look completely insane.

I bought a meter this season as well for my new coop to measure humidity. I think I should have put one outside too! haha. I can't measure the difference. I am way nerdy and overthinking. We put permeable polyfilm on the inside of our coop to keep out drafts. There is gable ventilation on the roof. No drafts under the perch bars. They say 50% humidity is ideal. Mine is over that many times when I wake up in the morning. No condensation and no ammonia smell at all. I am starting to rethink two things. One: Maybe the polyfilm was unessesary and we should have went with standard insulation, or nothing at all. Two: Maybe I should have not measured the humidity like we did the first year. I had a tiny junk coop we covered with tarp. The heat from the chickens would blow it up into a balloon and when I crawled under it was like a nice barnyard in there. It would be 40 inside the tarp and zero outside. I am concerned about frostbite, which we didn't experience last year, but we just kept them inside the covered run until up over freezing. Too much work. Especially with 24 chickens instead of 7. Curious if I should take down the film. The cold weather is coming and I want my chicky-chickies to have the best accomodations as possible. Let's figure this thing out. haha.

 

[PicoFarm]

Hi All - Heading into my first winter with the flock, so I apologize in advance for my over-thinking. I should also add that I am a Data Analyst by day, so... this is kinda my thing.

I have had a hygrometer (one in the run and one inside the coop) to monitor indoor/outdoor temperature and humidity readings. Over the summer I was mostly monitoring for high temps in the coop, and making sure that my inside humidity was never higher than my outside, though on excessively rainy days, it would be about the same inside vs. outside.

Now, where I live it has started getting cold at night (below freezing), so I am starting to see my first sets of cold readings, and just wondered if anyone else has comparison data to share, or what readings would cause you to make changes to ventillation?

For the past week I am seeing that inside my coop tends to be between 5-10 degrees warmer than outside, and about 7-10% LESS humid that outside. This is with the deep litter method in place, and only 7 birds in my flock.

Questions for the rest of you that monitor these things...
1) Is your coop staying warmer than 5-10 degrees above outdoor temps? If so, what are you doing to make that happen? Should I be looking for higher inside temps?
2) Is a 10% lower humidity reading "good enough" or should I be looking for something lower than that to keep my flock from experiencing any frostbite issues?

Hopefully someone out there is a nerdy overthinker so I dont look completely insane.

I watched extreme temps at both ends like a hawk the first year, with at least 2 temperature monitors in the coop and the ability to remotely check the temps on my phone. One of the temp monitors was a camera, so I could check to see how the birds were responding.

I didn't worry too much unless the temperatures were below 15 degrees F. When we had a stretch of near 0F for a week in Missouri, I had 4 heat lamps 250 watt plus a small "zero clearance" stand heater (maybe 50-75 watts) in my uninsulated 8x12 shoop (shoop= shed converted to coop). There was poor ventilation at time. I believe the most temperature spread I ever achieved was 10-15 degrees, but more commonly 5-10. Everybody survived. An old time chicken farmer I met while trying to pickup cheap insulation at Habitat for Humanity this spring said the main thing is to keep them dry and offer a roost where they can tuck feet under their feathers (eg. not too large of diameter that they can't wrap their "toes" around.)

I didn't use the deep bed method in my shoop but did in the small coop. My temperature readings in the small coop never reflected a thermal advantage from the deep litter method, although more sensitive instruments or a "treatment" and "control" approach might. I like the idea theoretically, but it's hard to keep the birds clean with deep litter. If your coop is sized right for the number of birds, some heat will be generated off the birds themselves (endothermic). In New England, snow on the roof or sides will also serve to help insulate. I've seen on Pinterest some folks near the Artic Circle made an "igloo" out of snow bricks around their coop. And somewhere else they made an "igloo" out of straw bales around their coop.

If your chickens have large combs (not the pea combs), watch for black spots that might signal frost bite. A few black spots will be ok, but large areas might warrant revising your approach. Lots of used chicken supplies can be found on Facebook Marketplace if you get the timing right.