The Great Winter Coop Humidity/Ventilation Experiment! Post Your Results Here!

[UtePassChickens]

check any garden center, they will have battery operated ones that do both - designed for green houses so pretty durable...cant think of the name...they should have a selection.

 

[mobius]

Mid day at my house: 14* F outside. 40*, humidity 65% in coop. Birds shut in all day b/c we were working on their sun room.

Sun room? Do share!

 

[mobius]

1/8 & 1/9/17

Opened side vent as it is getting warmer...so to speak...it warms up and we get slammed with snow.

This has been going on all winter, not typical.

9 pm

Outside: 15F -9.5C RH 87
Coop: 24F -4.5C RH 73

9 am

Outside: 17F -8.3C RH 84
Coop: 25F -4 C RH 73

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: Closed in almost all of 3 sides of east bay of the run. Green house tarp covering part of the east fence of the run (6' high). Swing set in run to provide sturdy support, with 2 x 4 framing attached to metal swing set (that way if the structure collapses, it'll take down the swing set, and not my fence! I had 1" conduit pipe to support the tarp at peak, and at end of front area which provided an awning, but the snow load resulted in lots of stress and the tarp becoming a "hammock". So, hubby built 2 trusses which went from East wall of the run to the peak of the swing set, and cantilevered out from there to support more 2 x 4 supports at the roof. It looks like it will bear the snow load without hammocking now, as long as the swing set bears the load, which it should. The interior of the "sun room is about 7' x 10'. They like to spend time out there b/c there is no wind, and a lot of nice solar gain. Hope to get a thermometer up in the sun room today. The birds have to "brave the snow and winter" to get from pop door to the sun room. They usually stand on the lip of the poop door, and fly the 7' to the edge of the sun room.

 

[MollySunshine]

1/8 & 1/9/17

Opened side vent as it is getting warmer...so to speak...it warms up and we get slammed with snow.

This has been going on all winter, not typical.

9 pm

Outside: 15F -9.5C RH 87
Coop: 24F -4.5C RH 73

9 am

Outside: 17F -8.3C RH 84
Coop: 25F -4 C RH 73

Make it go away (snow)!

 

[MollySunshine]

Closed in almost all of 3 sides of east bay of the run. Green house tarp covering part of the east fence of the run (6' high). Swing set in run to provide sturdy support, with 2 x 4 framing attached to metal swing set (that way if the structure collapses, it'll take down the swing set, and not my fence! I had 1" conduit pipe to support the tarp at peak, and at end of front area which provided an awning, but the snow load resulted in lots of stress and the tarp becoming a "hammock". So, hubby built 2 trusses which went from East wall of the run to the peak of the swing set, and cantilevered out from there to support more 2 x 4 supports at the roof. It looks like it will bear the snow load without hammocking now, as long as the swing set bears the load, which it should. The interior of the "sun room is about 7' x 10'. They like to spend time out there b/c there is no wind, and a lot of nice solar gain. Hope to get a thermometer up in the sun room today. The birds have to "brave the snow and winter" to get from pop door to the sun room. They usually stand on the lip of the poop door, and fly the 7' to the edge of the sun room.

Nice idea.

 

[Howard E]

Mobius:

Now that you have a nice baseline to work with, it would be interesting (to me anyway) if you could expand this a bit. Expand it by putting thermometers at the ground level, at the same level as your current sensor (or even with roost bars) and up high near the peak of the roof or placed up high where exterior vents reside. It is said that temps stratify within a coop, warm air rising, etc. If so, not sure how much that is, but would be interesting to find out. Humidity levels at those levels would be nice too, but that could get expensive and complicated. In addition to loose screws, large differences in hi/lo temps may partially explain why the birds make for the upper roosts. It may be warmer up there. By thermometers, I'm thinking simple bulb type, only large enough so they can be read accurately to a degree or so.

 

[mobius]

@Howard E, let me pense on that one a bit! The thermometer IS at the same level as the hygrometer...at about beak height...so that is what we are measuring. I thought that due to the birds' respiration that would be where the most moisture was...

1/9/17 & 1/10/17

9:15 pm

Outside: 26F -3.3C RH 92
Coop; 33F 0.55C RH 79

9:15 am

Outside: 26F -3.3C RH 92
Coop: 33F 0.55C RH 78

 

[mobius]

Spoke too soon about the weather

.

1/10/17-1/11/17

9:15 pm

Outside: 14F -10C RH 63
Coop: 26F -3.3C RH 71

8:30 am

Outside: -3F -19C RH 65
Coop: 9F -13C RH 65

 

[mobius]

1/11/17-1/12/17

Closed side vent. Supposed to get -11F overnight.

10pm

Outside: -7F -21.7C RH 82
Coop: +7F -14C RH 65

9am

Outside: 0F -18C RH 86
Coop: 11F 12C RH 68