Coop insulation question

[Roseynose]

I was thinking of lining the inside of a prefab coop with reflective foam board insulation. With calking around any edges so birds won't peck at any frayed spots. Will that make it to hot in summer? Or help Keep it cool too? Thanks In advance for any tips or thoughts.

 

[NatJ]

I think the chickens will pick holes in the insulation.

Insulation makes it harder for heat to go in or out, which is good if you have a heater or air conditioner inside your house and you want to keep your heat or cooling inside.

But I'm not quite sure whether it would be good or bad in a chicken coop in summer.

During a summer day, insulation can help keep heat out (good).
But during a summer night, as the temperature goes down outside, the insulation might keep the coop from cooling off (bad).

If you have large amounts of ventilation, I think it will be fine in summer with or without insulation. When hot air can just flow out of the coop (LOTS of ventilation), the coop can cool off just fine.

For winter, chickens usually seem to do better with lots of fresh air, even if it is cold, rather than being shut up in a cozy (stuffy, stinky) coop.

How cold does it get in the winter where you live?
Do you have a picture of the coop?

 

[Roseynose]

I think the chickens will pick holes in the insulation.

Insulation makes it harder for heat to go in or out, which is good if you have a heater or air conditioner inside your house and you want to keep your heat or cooling inside.

But I'm not quite sure whether it would be good or bad in a chicken coop in summer.

During a summer day, insulation can help keep heat out (good).
But during a summer night, as the temperature goes down outside, the insulation might keep the coop from cooling off (bad).

If you have large amounts of ventilation, I think it will be fine in summer with or without insulation. When hot air can just flow out of the coop (LOTS of ventilation), the coop can cool off just fine.

For winter, chickens usually seem to do better with lots of fresh air, even if it is cold, rather than being shut up in a cozy (stuffy, stinky) coop.

How cold does it get in the winter where you live?
Do you have a picture of the coop?

Not to bad only on occasion below freezing at Lowest 28. This year quite a few nights right at freezing 30-32. I have a chick who is turning out to be a roo so I was thinking of insulation to lower the volume of crowing a bit in the evening but it may be useless and he will just have to go anyway as roosters are not allowed at all in my city.

 

[NatJ]

Not to bad only on occasion below freezing at Lowest 28. This year quite a few nights right at freezing 30-32. I have a chick who is turning out to be a roo so I was thinking of insulation to lower the volume of crowing a bit in the evening but it may be useless and he will just have to go anyway as roosters are not allowed at all in my city.

It might be better for him to just go.

Roosters tend to crow a many times throughout the day. Even if insulation does muffle the sound, people would still have plenty of chances to hear him, unless you keep him locked in the coop all day.

 

[gtaus]

I think the chickens will pick holes in the insulation.

+1.

If you have large amounts of ventilation, I think it will be fine in summer with or without insulation.

For winter, chickens usually seem to do better with lots of fresh air, even if it is cold, rather than being shut up in a cozy (stuffy, stinky) coop.

Yep, agree with @NatJ on those points. I live in northern Minnesota and we get -35F to -40F in the winter. Draft free ventilation is key for my coop. The chickens have a normal body heat of 105F and will trap air in their feathers to keep themselves warm - as long as the coop is draft free. I have ventilation mostly overhead of their roosting bar. You want to make sure that there is no draft coming up from underneath the birds while they sleep on their roost.

Recommend you add your geographical location to your member icon so people can better answer your question(s) based on what you might have to deal with in your area. My setup in northern Minnesota is most likely very different than someone in southern California, for example.

If you have proper ventilation in your chicken coop, then your inside temp and humidity will be the same as the outside temp and humidity. IMHO, at that point, it's just a waste to add any insulation to the coop.

 

[Roseynose]

+1.





Yep, agree with @NatJ on those points. I live in northern Minnesota and we get -35F to -40F in the winter. Draft free ventilation is key for my coop. The chickens have a normal body heat of 105F and will trap air in their feathers to keep themselves warm - as long as the coop is draft free. I have ventilation mostly overhead of their roosting bar. You want to make sure that there is no draft coming up from underneath the birds while they sleep on their roost.

Recommend you add your geographical location to your member icon so people can better answer your question(s) based on what you might have to deal with in your area. My setup in northern Minnesota is most likely very different than someone in southern California, for example.

If you have proper ventilation in your chicken coop, then your inside temp and humidity will be the same as the outside temp and humidity. IMHO, at that point, it's just a waste to add any insulation to the coop.

Thanks you have some really good insight.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC!

Not to bad only on occasion below freezing at Lowest 28. This year quite a few nights right at freezing 30-32.

Please do tell us where, in general, you're located. Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing and it sounds like you're in an area where heat is going to be the problem.

Here's an article for you: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/

You're going to want BIG ventilation -- something no prefab coop has -- and that will render insulation moot anyway. In fact, depending on just how hot your summers get, you might be needing to think about an Open Air coop rather than an insulated one.

BTW, you absolutely cannot trust the numbers prefab coop manufacturers claim about how many birds their coops house. This is what you want to look for:

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

 

[Roseynose]

Welcome to BYC!



Please do tell us where, in general, you're located. Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing and it sounds like you're in an area where heat is going to be the problem.

Here's an article for you: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/

You're going to want BIG ventilation -- something no prefab coop has -- and that will render insulation moot anyway. In fact, depending on just how hot your summers get, you might be needing to think about an Open Air coop rather than an insulated one.

BTW, you absolutely cannot trust the numbers prefab coop manufacturers claim about how many birds their coops house. This is what you want to look for:

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

I'm in the Pacific NW. It doesn't get very hot but a few days of the year and mildly hot for about a month. I have a prefab coop the largest I could afford and a run extension. Building one is out of the question for our budget as I did the math and with lumber and other costs skyrocketing the prefab is more affordable and I don't have the vehicle to pick up the lumber, tools or skill for building a structure of that sort.

 

[BeanNoot316]

I was thinking of lining the inside of a prefab coop with reflective foam board insulation. With calking around any edges so birds won't peck at any frayed spots. Will that make it to hot in summer? Or help Keep it cool too? Thanks In advance for any tips or thoughts.

We tried the prefab foam board over the past winter to offer a little extra protection for our birds and had to take it all out after we discovered they were pecking holes in it and trying to eat it. After alot of research we realized that since our coop isn’t drafty it really wasn’t necessary.