The outdoor air temperature in the month of March saw frequent and considerable variations superimposed over a steady increase. The coop, again, responded only slightly to the variations.
During the month, the biomeiler cooled to the point that the mantle is close to freezing. Correspondingly, the temperature of the air coming in to the coop through the biomeiler was steady at about 35F.
Last month, I wrote about how, with the usual thirty hens and an additional fifteen pullets contributing their wastes, we are adding fresh bedding at a faster rate than usual. That trend has continued. We still have a comfortable volume of sawdust in storage, but the coop floor is piled so deeply that it has become a daily necessity to excavate the litter from behind the door.
The slope from the door swing area to the top of the adjacent litter pile is steep enough that the chickens’ casual scratching moves a burdensome volume of material downhill between chore times. This weekend, I plan to clear a wider area and shovel the used bedding against the opposite walls of the coop to reduce the slope angle. In the meantime, I’ll hope that the chickens make no special exertions. There is a real possibility of damaging the door by forcing it open against a more-substantial pile of litter.
It is a rewarding effort on your part to keep such close records of the temperature graph to observe the variations for real comparison.
I enjoy seeing the differences and how wonderfully the biomeiler maintains the temperature in the coop.
Pushing open the door against a burden of chicken waste is a real downer!