winterizing and coop humidity

[EagleEyes]

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned about the humidity in the coop, is how it relates to the humidity outside.
I've had my wireless temp/humidity guage for a little while now, and when the humidity outside is 70%-80% outside, how in the world would anyone expect it to be any less inside. (with good ventilation)
Here in Wisconsin, generally speaking the humidity is higher at night, and my coop and outside relate to each other.
If my humidity inside the coop was 78% and the outside was 48%, I'd be concerned, but that is not the way it is here.
It is higher at night and lower during the day, just as it is outside.

 

[JackE]

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned about the humidity in the coop, is how it relates to the humidity outside.
I've had my wireless temp/humidity guage for a little while now, and when the humidity outside is 70%-80% outside, how in the world would anyone expect it to be any less inside. (with good ventilation)
Here in Wisconsin, generally speaking the humidity is higher at night, and my coop and outside relate to each other.
If my humidity inside the coop was 78% and the outside was 48%, I'd be concerned, but that is not the way it is here.
It is higher at night and lower during the day, just as it is outside.

That is why I don't have any humidity monitors in my coop. Just another thing to potentially worry about. Like you said, you will never achieve a lower humidity level in the coop, than the outside level. Unless you put some kind of industrial air dryer/desiccant towers in there. I have a thermometer in my coop, just so I can see if it gets warmer than the outside. And it usually does.
other than that, fugettaboutit.

 

[mattsanity]

I also have the guage in the coop and it often reads in the low 80s at night, but it's been in the mid 90s outside overnight so I figure there's not much I can do for that short of dehumidifiers or other such things that are more fit for man than beast.

 

[ECBW]

Wise move on checking the gauge. And it should also be checked against a known source. Otherwise, how would you know the one that reads lower isn't the bad unit? I had a scale that was very user friendly.

You can put it outside where you can get the humidity report from the weather channel then you can see how close it is to the real deal.

I installed a weather gauge that measures temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Guess what, the best I can do is match inside to outside. When it is raining or snowing outside, the humidity will be near 100% inside.

 

[aart]

You can check your hygrometer reading with the following procedure:

To calibrate a hygrometer you will need:
1/2 cup table salt
approximately 1/4 cup water
coffee cup
hygrometer
large re-sealable freezer bag
1. Place 1/2 cup of salt in the coffee cup, and add the water. Stir for a bit to totally saturate the salt (the salt won't dissolve, it will be more like really wet sand).

2. Place the salt/water mix in a re-sealable plastic bag, along with the hygrometer, and seal the bag. Note: make sure none of the salt/water mix comes in direct contact with the hygrometer.

3. Let this bag aside at room temperature for 8-12 hours, in a location where the temperature is fairly constant.

4. After 8-12 hours, check the reading of the hygrometer. It is best to read it while still in the bag.

The relative humidity in the sealed bag with the salt/water mix should be 75 percent

 

[Dmom]

Mine love the extra space, they can come inside during extreme cold and not be on top of one another and can move about and not get bored. If your litter is dry it is the water heater. The water heater is acting as a humidifier. I bring my girls fresh tepid water each morning and if it is inside that is enough to keep it from freezing. Also what do you use as litter? wood shavings and pellets absorb more moisture that hay or straw. I like the fragrance of hay over straw and they like foraging for occasional seeds. 7 years and no frostbite.

 

[dmbnj]

I have a remote thermometer too and I was worried about the high humidity. Then I felt like an idiot since the humidity in the coop is usually +/-3% of what it is in my 1950's 3 season porch where the receiving unit is. :
Glad it was a faulty unit.

 

[aviatrixflyer]

what type/brand is the new gauge? My cheap one is stuck at 70%, I'd love to have more accuracy.

 

[mrskenmore]

I too have been watching and recording the temps and humidity and you will never get it much lower than what is outside. We have been getting a lot of rain here and the outdoor temp is quite warm for december- hovering in the mid 40's. The outside humidity last night was 90% with a temp of 43 and the coop was 83% humidity with a temp of 48. I use this great sensor that I bought on amazon.

Ambient Weather WS-07-X2 Big Digit 8-Channel Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer with Two Remote Sensors


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BWUYL5C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is accurate and I like that you can add up to 8 sensors. I have it set up to monitor the inside temp (40% humidity with my wood burning stove running) the outside temp and the coop temp.

I am going to open up their front window of the coop after reading through JackE's open air coop concept- it was just pouring last night and I didn't feel like being out in the rain with my power tools to unscrew the acrylic from the hardware cloth opening

 

[skills0]

Sounds like you got it sorted, but just wanted to add that coop design makes a big difference in how air and humidity flow in and out of the coop. This is the theory behind the fresh air poultry houses that were popular in the first half of the 20th century. I built a small model of one big enough for about 15 hens, based on the information in Fresh Air Poultry Houses which some of you are familiar with.

As far as I can tell so far this winter it really does work. It's much warmer in the back of the coop, completely open in the front and not much humidity at all. Obviously you aren't going to build a completely new coop at this point, but just wanted to point that out for people who might be researching coop design or thinking about building a larger coop.