To insulate or not to insulate?

[JackE]

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.

 

[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.

 

[JackE]

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

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

 

[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]

Well wind protection and insulating are 2 different things, building a solid coop with no insulation will be an adequate windbreak, insulation is a thermal barrier which blocks heat exchange through walls and roofs by conduction regardless of wind. The thing is if you have adequate ventilation the coop will likely still be quite cold if it is cold outside which defeats the purpose of insulation, if you insulate and heat or insulate and block ventilation you are likely creating a very unhealthy messy situation with all the added dampness. I understand not wanting strong winds and drafts on your birds but insulation doesn't stop wind, solid walls and good coop design stop winds and draft.

 

[Terry S]

I had the same question. Thank you all for the answer. It get a bit nippy up here in Maine.

 

[jruhle]

I insulated my coop with feed bags, cardboard, and plastic bags. It was all free and keeps the eggs fromfreezing!

 

[blucoondawg]

I insulated my coop with feed bags, cardboard, and plastic bags. It was all free and keeps the eggs fromfreezing!

Seems like it would also provide a cozy home for vermin

 

[Blammmo]

I added insulation and lined my interior walls with steel, cleans up nicely and keeps the heat in from my south facing window. I also live in MN and when the temps drop to -30 to -40f you notice the difference, it will be much warmer even with ventilation, and when we get those cold snaps for a longer period, I can adjust my vents to be almost closed to retain heat then open them back up when it warms back up, no mites or vermin for the last 7 years either. If you live in this frigid winter wasteland I recommend insulation, you won't be disappointed, just make sure you do it right the first time

 

[blucoondawg]

I added insulation and lined my interior walls with steel, cleans up nicely and keeps the heat in from my south facing window. I also live in MN and when the temps drop to -30 to -40f you notice the difference, it will be much warmer even with ventilation, and when we get those cold snaps for a longer period, I can adjust my vents to be almost closed to retain heat then open them back up when it warms back up, no mites or vermin for the last 7 years either. If you live in this frigid winter wasteland I recommend insulation, you won't be disappointed, just make sure you do it right the first time

My winter temperatures in northern Wisconsin are similar to yours, I have no insulation and the birds are fine.