Coop Insulation Question

[ECBW]

Northeasterner here with no insulation, no heat and no problem.

The questions of insulation and ventilation have been kicked around for as long as the years I have been following this site and probably for years to come. To this I offer this... Recieved a thermometer/hygrometer/barometer. Since the wife was not fond of the style, guess where it ended up? In the winter, coop temp is a little higher (probably due to no wind chill and body heat) and humidity is pretty close to outside. It is 100% humidity inside when it is raining or sonwing out.

My coops have operable vents that I open only the down wind side. So far, this game plan is working and no frostbites.

My suggestion would be: if you are going to plywood the inside, you might as well fill the cavity. If you are going this far, then you should insulate the roof since heat rises. So when you decide to heat your coop, it would be more effective.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

In the winter we are about guaranteed at least 2 to 3 weeks of -20 degrees F. So I insulated my coop..



I used the blue solid foam insulation.



Here is the coop with the ceder siding and ready for the roof

 

[Egghead_Jr]

On this topic, in my case I live in eastern Ontario near Ottawa, where winters can get very cold... Like -20C (below 0F) often enough, and sometimes colder. Do I need to insulate? Or will a non drafty coop be enough? Also, how can you keep drafts down but ventilate at the same time in cold winter months?
Sorry to hijack thread.

If -4 F is your extreme low then you've nothing to worry about. Here in Northern NH we hit -20F(-29C) and lower a few days each winter and 0F quite regularly. Your ventilation is higher in the coop, over the heads of your chickens on their roosting bar. With interior heat exiting and solid walls on windward side of coop there is minimal drafting in. We don't heat our coop nor is it insulated. The rooster will get a touch of frost bite those extreme days, I've yet to use vasiline to prevent it- simply forget as he'll not have any sign until after those few extreme nights of -20F.

 

[Jakoda]

thanks for all the input, I'm not worried about anything getting in my "coop", it's a very secure shed (prebuilt) that I've had for quite a number of years, stored seed and such in it, and have never had a rodent problem. Of course there weren't chickens living in it , so who knows when that time comes

I most likely won't put any type of heat lamp in there, because honestly I don't think it would need it, In CT I don't think the temps have fallen below zero in 'years'..We were more or less considering plywooding up the sides to keep the stud area 'cleaner' , I was thinking of putting linoleum on the walls as well . I DO know it gets hot in there in the summer, I do have a two sets of double doors that could be left open during the day for air flow/plenty of other ventilation , so we were rather more concerned with the heat aspect vs the cold..

Who'da thunk these 35$ chickens would end up costing a zillion bucks to have a lovely coop and run))

Thanks again
Diane

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My wife found a $350.00 coop on Craigslist...very close by. I told her:"Sweetheart, don't worry, I'll build you a coop...no problem." That was $380.00 ago.

But I think that my coop will have more wizbangs than the Craigslist coop.

I just gotta get it done.

 

[Baker Farm]

Where I am we do get some real cold nights -30C, but it sounds like you get similar temps in NH, so I'm sure I'll be fine then if I don't insulate.
Actually, if you look on a map, New Hampshire is almost even with eastern ontario, so we probably get about the same temps in the winter. Hell, you're practically in Canada! haha

 

[MI chickens]

Last year my second coop I built was insulated and well ventilated like I'm supposed to, I really don't think it made much difference. This last winter here in Michigan both coops- the uninsulated #1 and insulated #2, seemed to be about the same temp. Chicken coops need a lot of ventilation, the constant air change imo negates any heat gain using insulation.

 

[MI chickens]

Since you plan on putting plywood on the inside go ahead and put fiberglass insulation in, its not very expensive. I would put a plastic vapor barrier under the inside plywood to keep moisture at check. Also a lot of paint on the inside is a good idea. I use an assortment of miss tint paint in mine, the colors look strange together but I don't think the chickens mind