January Experimental Results

The outdoor air temperature in the month of January saw frequent and considerable variations superimposed over a general increase.  The coop, by virtue of its insulation and thermal mass responded only slightly to the rapid variations, but certainly followed the general warming trend.

In the first half of the month, the major forces were in opposition.  The temperature of the air entering the coop from the biomeiler steadily dropped while the outdoor air temperature made its greatest increase.  The result was that the coop warmed up, but to a lesser degree than the outdoor air.  In the second half of the month, the opposition diminished.  The outdoor air temperature increased modestly, and the incoming air warmed modestly, with the result was that the coop continued to warm up at about the same rate as in the first half of the month.

Keeping the coop floor in good condition was the most demanding task of the month.  When the coop was in the 30sF, there was a great accumulation of frost on the walls and ice framed the doors.  Knowing that the frost would melt and run into the bedding when the temperature rose high enough, I took extra care to keep a clean layer of sawdust on the floor, even when I could have deferred the maintenance. That foresight paid off handsomely.  When the coop reached the 40sF, the litter on the floor became far wetter, but seldom reached saturation.  I use a 12-gallon tote bin to bring in sawdust and found that adding one bin whenever the floor began to feel squishy was enough to avoid any more-serious problem.  Based on the size of the coop, adding 12 gallons of sawdust is roughly equivalent to a good handful per square foot.

Now that the coop is in the 50sF, the air exiting the coop is warm enough to keep the vent pipe from frosting closed.  The fan pushes the air outward with enough force to produce a cone of condensation at least a yard in length.  My hope is that the improved outflow of humid air will reduce the rate of addition of fresh bedding.  The floor litter is definitely deeper than it has ever been.  I knew this was a likely outcome of switching exclusively to sawdust as the bedding material.  So, if the depth becomes a problem, I will have only myself to blame.  On the positive side, the small amount of shoveling I have had to do in the coop has been accomplished with much less effort than in the past, when we used wood shavings as bedding.

When it comes time to clean out the coop in preparation for next winter, I anticipate that the greater ease of the work will outweigh the increase in the volume of material to move.  Fingers crossed!