Coop insultion and ventilation adice needed

[SBmember]

Some background: we have an 8x8x8 coop made of plywood and 2x4's. Deep litter method with shavings and a deep top layer of hay. Food and water inside the coop since our chickens refuse to leave it (!). 10 chickens and 2 ducks. We have ventilation at the top in a corner. No drafts. (The coop was pretty rushed) We have a new one we can put together as soon as it warms up.

Saturday is supposed to get to a low of -25 so we put up foam board insulation inside on 3 walls, (not the wall with the door yet, we will tomorrow) 5 feet up and covered with empty feed bags.

Questions: Should we buy more insulation? Do the whole coop? Plastic the outside? More ventilation? I want to keep them from suffering without a heat lamp, I do not want fire and electricity isn't really an option, any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[TalkALittle]

This looks like a duplicate thread. The original with some responses is here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1145331/winter-coop-advice-insulation#post_17851220

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Where do you live to get a low of -25 this time of year? We only hit -8 F this morning. Oh wait, I get it. Your in Canada and use that easy system of 0 is freezing and 100 boils water. So my low this morning is on par with yours if indeed your Celcius (-8F = -22C). My coop is unheated and uninsulated.

I'd like to see a picture or have a better description of your ventilation system. To me as described so far it doesn't sound like enough. If the moisture of coop is not dispelled (vented out) enough large combed chickens will experience frostbite at freezing point of water. Too many warm bodies in a poorly vented room will produce a lot of moisture. The humidity level and temperature to make frost are hand and hand. Lower the humidity in the coop and it can withstand lower temperatures before producing frost.

I suppose I can say a bit more on ventilation. There are two methods of ventilation. First being a huge opening for passive air exchange. Cold weather that is not an option unless your coop is large enough to have the roosts far enough back from the hardware clothed south facing wall that wind isn't an issue. Look up Woods Style Coop designs. Really nice for large coops and cold climates. The other type of ventilation is to have an inlet and outlet. Via convection air is pulled in the lower inlet and forced out the higher outlet. The physical action is forced air without fans. You get quite an increase in air flow by laws of physics not fans or large openings. If there is enough of a pitch to your roof then inlets are on the lower eve and outlet higher eve, or if a gabled roof inlets both eves and outlets both gable ends. Ventilation made easy is a single slant roof with plywood sheathing lower by 2-3 inches under top and bottom of slant roof. Cover openings with hardware cloth. So the roof joist would be the opening depth, either 2x4 laid flat (1.5 inches) or 2x4 upright (3.5 inches). The longer roof board makes for the spacer on top of the end wall.