Upstate NY Coop - Insulate or Not to Insulate

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ADKegger

ADKegger

In the Brooder
6 Years
May 1, 2013
16
0
22
Upstate New York (north of Albany)
Its that time to start to build my coop. I have (6) Barred Rocks that will need their permanent home fairly soon at the rate they are growing. The plan is for a 6'x8' coop with 8'x10' outside run.

Based on our weather in Upstate NY(north of Albany) do I need to insulate the coop? Seen most of the coops on this site are uninsulated. I was not sure and want to do this right.

All feed back is appreciated.
 
You may see a lot of opinions, but no, you do not have to insulate. Chickens already come equipped with perfect insulation of their own, and really don't need any help from us. Just give them a dry, draft free place to roost at night and they'll be fine.
Jack
 
I am insulating both my coops. this past winter was brutal on us in CT sub zero temps and all of them got frost bitten on their combs. sure it grew back I just felt bad for them so bad in fact most days they stayed inside the coop by their choice.
 
I am in northern Massachusetts, and we are in the process of building our coop (8'x6' with an 8'x14' run). We are going to insulate, with lots of vents that can be closed off if needed on really bad days.
 
I live in NY aswell..i have 3 coops that are not insulated...my chickens are fine during the winter..i dont put a light in the coops either.
 
What benefit is to be had from insulating a chicken coop for the winter? A coop is not like your house, where you use insulation to help keep your furnace provided heat inside. A coop is SUPPOSED to be well ventilated, even and especially through winter. You do not want to have "lots of vents" closed off on the coldest days to "Keep them warm". THAT'S exactly what you do if you want your birds to get frostbite, and/or respiratory problems. Because a poorly ventilated coop will load up with moisture mostly just from the birds breathing. That moisture will freeze and cause problems. I get temps here into the single digits, not including any windchill. The front of my coop is wiiiiide open, year round. Coops like mine were used up into Maine and Canada, with temps to -40F. No insulation, No added heat. This is not theory, but documented fact. Sealing them up in a box for the winter, is the wrong way to go.
Jack

900x900px-LL-2c3be1ef_55557_img_1353.jpeg
 
JackE said:
What benefit is to be had from insulating a chicken coop for the winter? A coop is not like your house, where you use insulation to help keep your furnace provided heat inside. A coop is SUPPOSED to be well ventilated, even and especially through winter. You do not want to have "lots of vents" closed off on the coldest days to "Keep them warm". THAT'S exactly what you do if you want your birds to get frostbite, and/or respiratory problems. Because a poorly ventilated coop will load up with moisture mostly just from the birds breathing. That moisture will freeze and cause problems. I get temps here into the single digits, not including any windchill. The front of my coop is wiiiiide open, year round. Coops like mine were used up into Maine and Canada, with temps to -40F. No insulation, No added heat. This is not theory, but documented fact. Sealing them up in a box for the winter, is the wrong way to go.
Jack

900x900px-LL-2c3be1ef_55557_img_1353.jpeg
Click to expand...
Each to their own. Different folks different strokes

I think by insulating them it will help keep some of the day warmth from the sun in there as well as their boddy heat and deep litter methose helps warm it up as well. my coops are ventilated. I see you are in MD I am in CT it gets much colder and more humid here in CT it was below zero here a few days and this past year we had a blizzard drop over 41" of snow.

but more to the point it looks liek your coop is a coop and run in one. we have a coop and a outdoor run with a roof
 
Mikedero said:
Each to their own. Different folks different strokes

I think by insulating them it will help keep some of the day warmth from the sun in there as well as their boddy heat and deep litter methose helps warm it up as well. my coops are ventilated. I see you are in MD I am in CT it gets much colder and more humid here in CT it was below zero here a few days and this past year we had a blizzard drop over 41" of snow.

but more to the point it looks liek your coop is a coop and run in one. we have a coop and a outdoor run with a roof
Click to expand...
As I posted, coops like that were used in Maine and Canada. Check out the open air coop link below, on pg24 you can read about open air coops in -40F temps.You can look at open air coops buried in snow. That book is 100 yrs old. So open air is not some new idea.
And no, that is a purpose built Wood's coop, not a coop/run combo. Big enough for 30 birds. They have an outside run.
Jack
http://archive.org/stream/openairpoultryho00wood#page/n0/mode/2up
 
Again as I stated each to their own. If I built that it would have filled right up to the top with snow during the blizzard as we had drifts over 6 ft and I would have chickencicles

I will stay with what I got, looks cool just does not make sense to me. Not saying it dont work
 
I didn't mean to close them all off, but I meant if it was esp. cold and windy, we were making them so any could be closed off if needed. We are adding some insulation to help with the wind, as we live on the woods and it gets pretty windy back there. I understand the need for ventilation and also for them not to be so warm that there is an extreme difference between inside and out, but wanted to make sure they are just well protected.
 
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