As in January, the outdoor air temperature in the month of February saw frequent and considerable variations. What differed is that the average temperature remained fairly constant. The coop, again, responded only slightly to the rapid variations.
Because the coop has been between 40 and 50F, the air exiting the coop has been warm enough to keep the vent pipe from frosting closed. The greater outflow of humid air has improved the feel of the air in the coop, but has not greatly altered the condition of the litter on the floor. With the usual thirty hens and an additional fifteen pullets contributing their wastes, it is simply asking too much of the fans to expect them to dry the used bedding.
The temperature of the air coming in to the coop through the biomeiler shows the trend one would expect. The biomeiler steadily cooled until February 24. On that day, I began artificial aeration to add oxygen to the compost with the goal of reinvigorating the aerobic bacteria. I’ll cover the details in the next post, but the attempt was clearly successful. In spite of the outdoor temperature dropping to the -20sF, the biomeiler warmed up enough to measurably increase the temperature of the air passing through the pile.
I am proud that we are still on track to complete the entire winter without using any electric heat in the chicken coop.
Such good news! Your efforts to keep a chart of temperatures has paid off and lets you know when to aerate. It seems that success is yours!