coop insulation

[cmom]

I have insulation only in the top of my coop but I live in Florida. It did get down to 21 degrees last night and one of my bird baths froze. I do put heat lamps in my coops when it's forecasted to get below freezing. Both of my coops are well vented.

 

[CityChook]

Hi Davidr-

I insulated my coop (walls and ceiling) with R13 fiberglass and am soooo glad that I did. We're going back down to -15F tonight for round 2 of the frigid cold.

I also did 2x4 construction and vapor barrier (we used tyvec under the siding). Ventilation will be important. We did ridge cap/soffet ventilation for 24/7 air flow and additionally cut two 10x10 inch holes that I can cover up when it gets dangerously cold. I have left them closed for up to a week with no problems.

Another consideration might be to wire the coop for electricity. In the winter you'll probably want to hook up a heated water dish and/or a heat light. We hard wired a fixture over the roost for a ceramic heat emitter so that I wouldn't obsess about it falling into the shavings and starting a fire. It has worked great for us.

While 4 ft per bird is the recommended minimum for inside the coop, I would recommend more space if you can do it. Because of our midwestern climate, I've had to leave the girls locked inside for up to a week while it was below zero outside and they did fine. When you have less space inside, they can get aggressive with each other when they get bored/cramped.

Good luck and feel free to PM me anytime if I can be of any help. And welcome!

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

We insulated our coop with double foam insulation because when the fiberglas insulation gets damp or wet, it looses it's insulation value, even if it dries out. We insulated the floor, walls, and ceiling, and then added the roll type of thin foil coated insulation to the ceiling for extra heat radiation. Good luck in your quest for the perfect coop-one suggestion-always build bigger than you think you need!! I can't tell you how many times I have heard people on BYC say they wished that they had built it bigger, including myself. I wish we had built the coop double the size!!!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

You're getting a lot of great information here already! Glad to have you here!

 

[chickiebaby]

Welcome - it was *only* nine degrees below here, last night, quite tropical compared to some of you.

We don't heat, except for one sixty watt bulb, as others have said. We do change water twice daily, er, most of the time.

We insulated, with spray foam, the bottom half of the coop, all the way round and coverd the insulation with cheap, reused/recycled beadboard. The top half is uninsulated, all the better to vent things with and we didnt do the roof, which hast mattered the past few years.

This ridiculously cold winter has made us think tht we will retro-insulate the roof. Prob do it the same way, with spray foam and whatever plywood, beadboad, etc.
Did somebody already point you to the excellent post by patandchickens, a lengthy disquisition on ventilation. Do a search and read that. She's right on.

 

[Mnkytales]

I'm curious why no one mentioned insulating with straw. I put chicken wire around the bottom of my hen house and stuffed between the wall studs with straw. I also stuffed the pink stuff under the eaves of the coop where the vents are and have not had any trouble with the girls pecking at it. I plan on taking the straw out in the summer, but for now it has worked great with no problems with humidity.

 

[mistylady]

I woke up to a temp of -22 with a windchill of who knows how cold the other day. The water was frozen but the chickens were fine. A few spots of frostbite on a comb or two. The coop has no insulation other than plastic sheeting between the wall and siding on the north side. I keep about 6 inches of straw on the floor. When it snows I kick the snow up around the bottom of the coop to keep wind from blowing under it - the coop was built on a hillside and sits on stilts. The north side I have panels up against to keep the wind from going udner that side. If I could do the coop over ..... I'd insulate the floor for sure. I go out every two hours when it is freezing outside and give the chickens water (keep one waterer thawed at all times). This spring I have been promised electricity to the coop so next year the chickens will have a heated waterer!

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
A perfect plan! That's what I did to both of my 4x8x8 coops, and considering the winter we're having here in Central Indiana right now, I'm sure glad that I did.
You won't regret the spending the small cost. It even helps to protect from heat when the sun's blazing down during the summer.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Because it tends to mold and grow mice. In a coop that stays fairly dry during the winter (i.e. low chicken population, good ventilation, good sanitation, no leaks) you may not have unreasonable mold problems but that won't be true for everyone. Although, your plan of removing the straw when the weather gets warm again is quite a good one and is MUCH better than the usual idea of leaving the straw there forever

Pat

 

[digitS']

In my post, I mentioned that putting down heavy straw did work well at keeping an uninsulated floor warm. However, I really want to caution folks about putting straw (or, really any loose material) where the mice can get into it and the chickens cannot.

Mistylady has about 6 inches of straw on the floor and that should really help. But, I "packed" it in and under the roosts, the mice set up housekeeping. The chickens couldn't (or, didn't want to) tear the straw apart to chase the mice out of there.

Once I stacked hay on pallets outdoors in a corral. After the hay had been fed, it came time to move those pallets. I learned the difference between a tom cat and a momma cat. Momma cat grabbed 1 mouse and ran off. Tom caught mouse after mouse after mouse . . . . dozens!

Steve (who's been known to dance with his pitchfork at certain moments)