abby308•2mo agoMost Upvoted

That stick-on thermometer on my coop wall was lying to me for two years.

I kept wondering why my hens stopped laying every winter despite the thermometer saying the coop was 40 degrees. Then I borrowed my neighbor's infrared thermometer and found the actual temp near the roosts was 28 degrees. Anybody switch to a digital probe with a remote display or just hang a regular thermometer at bird level?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.tessa2mo ago

Grabbed a probe thermometer from the hardware store and my hens laid all winter once I put it at roost height.

the_karen2mo ago

Interesting. Could be the wind chill factor nobody mentions.

abby18922d ago

Craig.tessa's comment about the probe sensor is exactly what I read works best, you gotta get that reading at the actual bird level. I saw a blog from a chicken vet who said most coop thermometers are useless because they measure the warm air near the ceiling, not the icy draft at roost height. A simple digital probe with a remote display solved the same problem for my flock last winter and cost less than a bag of feed.