To insulate or not to insulate?

[Mel281]

Hello,
We live in MN where this past winter, we had many days with a temperature below zero with a windchill of -20. We are getting 4 cold hardy birds and wondering if it is necessary to insulate the coop? Are there other safe ways to keep them warm on these bitter cold days?

 

[Hokum Coco]

Hello,
We live in MN where this past winter, we had many days with a temperature below zero with a windchill of -20. We are getting 4 cold hardy birds and wondering if it is necessary to insulate the coop? Are there other safe ways to keep them warm on these bitter cold days?

It is not necessary to insulate; If you do they will consume less feed.

My coop "is" insulated.
Mostly to provide protection from the heat in the summer (my coop is metal ). .

In Canada I am subject to -40º cold snaps. I do NOT heat my coop. Murphy's law says my birds will find out what -40 is all about when my hydro goes out. Regardless what you decide feed extra Corn over the winter you will not be sorry.

Or something like this may help also; You could even knit a hoodie for those extra cold days..

 

[christinamae5]

We live in the Black Hills of South Dakota. While I just got my babies today, my parents have had chickens for some time now.... They have a thermometer in their coop and with about 20 chickens, the coop was +20 degrees inside with temps being -20 outside with windchills at -40 and -50. Their coop is not insulated and they did not have any other heat source. Chickens produce ALOT of heat by themselves- and while they did feed them cracked corn in the winter to help, it was cheaper and safer than using a lamp or insulating the coop.....Just my experiences (or theirs!) Hope this helps...

 

[sheetmetaltom]

it was pretty cold on long island ny this year. plus we had a number of days when it was 40 one day and -10 with the wind chill the next. about 50 odd inches of snow. wasn't pretty. my coop is small.(this spring im making it bigger), even on the coldest nights they slept in the doorway or on the outside roosts. they didn't seem happy being locked up. so I let them do what they liked. I guess it worked because in jan, at 4 1/2 months old they started laying and haven't stopped since. 8 chickens, get about 3 to 31/2 dozen a week.

 

[Blooie]

People have kept chickens for hundreds of years without insulation. In a coop, as far as cold weather goes, insulation is USELESS. A coop, unlike your house, HAS to be open, and well ventilated, even through the coldest days of winter. Your house has insulation to help keep in the heat, generated by your furnace. A coop should be open to the outside, for proper air exchange, that is VITAL to the chickens. What is insulation going to do, with free air exchange with the outside? Nothing, that's what.
MY coop has the whole front wall open to the outside. It doesn't have any insulation, no added heat of any kind. But, you can go out there on any cold morning, and find the coop is usually 10 degrees warmer than the outside temp. I don't have a magical coop here, but that is just how it is.
As other people have mentioned, if you have insulation, you will HAVE to have interior walls. Otherwise the chickens will shred the useless insulation. When you put interior walls in a coop, you will have just provided insect pests, mites, and whatever else, and mice, maybe rats, a real nice hidden place, close to food, to set up housekeeping of their own. Safely out of view of you. But the chickens will deal with them 24/7/365.
The only useful insulation in a coop, would be foam glued directly to the underside of the roof, to help absorb some of the heat in the summertime. Other than that, forget about it, it's a waste of time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, God (Or Nature if you're an atheist) has provided these birds with PERFECT insulation of their own. They do not need any "Help" from us to deal with cold weather.

Yup, you're probably right. But I'm doing it anyway.

 

[Blooie]

It's your time and $$$ to waste as you wish, have fun.

It dawned on me while I was thinking about this exchange and cleaning out the brooder that I owe you an apology. My response came out snippy, and that's not who I am. I do apologize for my tone. I think I was responding more to the attitude that came out in your reasoning and not to your actual words.

I understand that people kept chickens in unheated, uninsulated coops for hundreds of years. Both sets of my grandparents kept chickens - and I mean hundreds of them in long, narrow buildings with banks of south facing windows. Both of their farms were in that frigid corner area where South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa meet, about 15 miles way from each other. They weren't called chicken coops there, they called them "chicken barns". The chickens were a vital form of income for them. When hens went broody they were allowed to nest and raise their babies without help from people. Those chicks were the generation which would replace hens that were no longer laying or birds that were destined for the dinner table and for those lost to predators. Some of them were sold as well.

I can vividly remember Gramma and Grampa W sitting at the table, ledger books spread out in front of them, carefully determining what the "winter kill" count was for that year. They actually had a column in the book for "winter kill." Sometimes it was so high they'd have to contact Blue Ribbon Hatchery and order chicks to supplement the ones lost, and that cut into their bottom line. When those bitter midwestern blizzards would sweep through, sometimes with just short few days of break between them, the cold wasn't the enemy - it was the strong winds piecing every little crack and gap in the chicken barns that caused most of the winter deaths. My grampas - both of them - would be out there patching larger holes and gaps in the barns every summer, but along with all the other summer chores and repairs that they were doing the chicken barns weren't always that high on the priorities list.

That was then. Here I live in town, and I don't have the luxury of housing hundreds of chickens. I am limited. And because I'm limited, I am convinced that I have to be sure that I'm not sitting at the table planning replacements for "winter kill." In Wyoming when we hear that the winter winds are going be sustained at 30 mph for a few days, we don't even blink. Gusts of 50 aren't at all uncommon in winter here! It usually snows sideways. So I want to do everything I can to protect the few hens I am able to keep. If that means some insulation in our coop, then that's what it means. It will be a hassle, and and expense, and it will mean taking extra care to provide good ventilation. There's plenty of information on this forum on how to accomplish this. I imagine that even un-insulated coops occasionally have problems with rodents, and I'll deal with that if it happens.

The bottom line is that I had no business responding you the way I did. I was wrong to do that, and I am sorry. It may turn out that you are absolutely right, and that the insulation was a dumb idea. If that proves to be the case, then I've learned something along the way. I remember well how keeping chickens was in years gone by. I'm glad that your system has worked well for you. I'm hoping my plans are the right plans for us. Truce?

 

[blucoondawg]

I am in northern Wisconsin and we too had the extreme cold this winter, many nights of -25 to -30 below without the windchill. I have not insulated my coop, you certainly can and it will help it stay a little warmer inside as it will limit heat loss through walls and ceilings however if you have the required amount of ventilation it will still get quite cold inside in that kind of weather. I will not insulate and close up a coop tight and ad heat, that will pose a problem with dampness then you will have troubles as that is what causes frostbite.

I am going to make a few changes to my coop before next winter, I am going to add more roost space as well as put in a hinged or removable hover over the roost area, this will act to reduce the space around the roosting birds and their body heat closer around them while still allowing maximum ventilation to keep the coop dry as possible.

I had 1 bird get some frostbite on the comb it was my NH rooster and he got the frostbite due to fighting with my other rooster and getting his comb wet and bloody, my other birds with larger combs were fine so you should be ok especially if you have brahmas, wyandottes, easter eggers, etc with pea combs. Even my little Sicilian Buttercup rooster with the big crown comb was fine and they aren't considered a cold hardy breed, I didn't order him he was the extra mystery chick from Mcmurray, would have rather gotten a brahma or something but oh well.

 

[TheChickInn]

I live in Eau Claire, WI. We just had one of the worst winters I have ever experienced. We show our chickens, While our Silkies and Ameraucanas did well, some of our Marans got frostbite on their combs, despite using 3 heat lamps. We will be insulating and siding our coop this summer ( heat lamps are costly and dangerous). One of the most important things to remember if insulating, is to remember to make sure there is proper ventilation.

 

[blucoondawg]

I live in Eau Claire, WI. We just had one of the worst winters I have ever experienced. We show our chickens, While our Silkies and Ameraucanas did well, some of our Marans got frostbite on their combs, despite using 3 heat lamps. We will be insulating and siding our coop this summer ( heat lamps are costly and dangerous). One of the most important things to remember if insulating, is to remember to make sure there is proper ventilation.

Isn't that the truth, when I had my chicks in the brooder my electric bill was up 30 dollars per month from running that darn heat lamp, that is the big plus side of having a broody hen, not having to mess with the darn lamp, I screw mine up to the ceiling when I use it so it can't fall and cause a fire.

 

[jbher]

I'm in Hudson, Wisconsin and am in the process of designing my coop in sketchup. I plan to insulate the whole thing - floor, walls and roof. I just don't want to wish later that I had done it and I really think I won't regret it. It should help keep it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. I will have plenty of ventilation to avoid any dampness problems. Anyone see this today (the photo from NBC Nightly News)? Aren't we lucky (Minneapolis would be the Twin Cities obviously - Hudson is also considered part of the twin cities since we're on the border). But I know ALL of Minnesota and Wisconsin had the same horrible winter this year!!! By the way, I read we even "beat" Alaska for days below freezing!!