Do we need to insulate our coop?

[Egghead_Jr]

I'm in climate zone 3a. That means winter low can dip to -30F. No insulation, no added heat.

 

[Lonesome Dough]

Insulation, in a coop is a total waste of time, and money. What good does insulation do, if you have a well ventilated coop (As you should, even through winter). Answer, absolutely none. I have an open-air Wood's coop. The whole front wall, is wide open year round. There is no insulation, and no added heat, of any kind, outside of what the birds generate themselves. And the temp of the coop is usually 10 to 15 degrees higher, than the outside. That's with NO insulation. So that blows the myth, that you need insulation to achieve higher temps in the coop.

When you insulate a coop, you have to install interior walls. Otherwise the chickens will shred, and probably eat the insulation. No good. And when you add interior walls, you give rodents, insects, including mites, and really, who knows what else, a nice hidden place to set up house for themselves. From where they can come out and harass the chickens. Bottom line, unless we are talking about some kind of thinly feathered, exotic breed, they are more than capable of handling cold temps. And they really don't need any "help" from us. Give them a well ventilated coop. Not a wind tunnel where they'll be blown all over the place. Ventilated, for max air exchange, and they will be good to go.

I read this a couple times and my thought both times was why do you want to run an endurance test on your birds? they are not Iditarod sled dogs. Make them comfortable as you can and just maybe they will reward you with better egg return.

 

[JackE]

I read this a couple times and my thought both times was why do you want to run an endurance test on your birds? they are not Iditarod sled dogs. Make them comfortable as you can and just maybe they will reward you with better egg return.

I have to ask... What are you talking about? Endurance test? Sled dogs? My birds ARE as comfortable as I can make it for them. They live in a proven, 100+ yr old design, coop. They have no problems with frostbite, or respiratory problems, like other chickens, kept in poorly designed crap boxes. That you can read about, on this forum every winter. And, I don't have any problems with egg return. Read more about the proven benefits, of open-air coops, especially a Wood'sCoop, before posting.

 

[Lonesome Dough]

 

[WesleyBeal]

I read this a couple times and my thought both times was why do you want to run an endurance test on your birds? they are not Iditarod sled dogs. Make them comfortable as you can and just maybe they will reward you with better egg return.

I think we too often think of what is most important to us when it comes to comfort.

For chickens, I'm convinced that plenty of ventilation is much more important to them than warmer temperatures.

We'll gladly hole ourselves up in a stuffy, smelly sealed box if it means staying warmer when it's really cold out. We have to expend a lot of energy to stay warm. Chickens however can keep themselves warm with little expenditure of energy compared to ourselves. Most of it is done by puffing their feathers out, and if they're like other birds, they can control the amount of blood flow going through their legs, where they'd stand to lose a lot of heat, as well as sit on them and keep them very warm.

Their lungs on the other hand are very small and delicate.

 

[JackE]

Funny guy. Don't have any idea what you're talking about, but funny.

 

[Justino]

When the temp hits 20 and below I plug in a little cheap radiator I have inside the coop I like my flock to be happy and healthy, and I don't see them liking the freezing cold!

 

[Blooie]

we are building our first coop plan on making it so we can use the deep litter method. Live in Wy it gets cold in winter. Don't plan on heating the coop. Do we need to insulate it?

I am also in Wyoming. We had over a week where we didn't see over -20 degrees, and then it soared into the negative teens for another week. A few balmier days came along, then it repeated the cycle. <sigh> I don't insulate my coop...even got into a discussion with about it with @JackE and fortunately his wisdom prevailed. This was our 4th winter since we built, and I don't regret not insulating or heating one little bit. Moisture control and ventilation are the keys. A person would think that sealing that coop up, warming it, insulating it, and all that stuff is the way to keep chickens safe. If you aren't planning on heating it anyway, what are you holding in? They keep all of their warm body air trapped next to their bodies. Oh, if you have enough chickens they'll also warm the air somewhat, but in my opinion not enough to justify the expense of insulation and a second, inner wall to keep them from pecking and eating it. I wasn't smart enough to build a Woods Style coop, which I regret, and our layout with a super high roofline pretty much means that there isn't enough heat generated by the chickens to warm the space. Dumb!

The only concession we make to winter here is to partially cover our run with clear, reinforced greenhouse type plastic. I say "partially" because we have a hoop run, and the plastic on the south side is a totally separate piece which we can roll up or down from the top just like a window shade, and then roll down and remove completely as it warms up outside. Most of the winter it's over halfway down, but on those super windy days when the weather is blowing in from the south or southwest, we roll it most of the way up. The north side also has a gap at the top of the arch, between the top edge of the run and the top of the people door. On the east side, we don't pull the large sheet of plastic all the way to the ground, instead leaving a small gap at the bottom edge. The first year we did the plastic, we sealed that puppy totally up. What a mistake! The floor was wet, the food was wet, and the chickens were wet. The top arch of the run was so loaded with condensation that it literally dripped down our necks when we went in there. Took forever to dry that out! We understood better then than ever before how critical ventilation is, even in the run. Moisture + cold = frostbite. That was the only winter a couple of my birds had frostbitten combs. Lesson learned, big time!

As for deep litter, I also use deep litter. There's a distinct different between deep litter and deep bedding. There are really good threads on here that address that very subject. Unfortunately either I have haven't figured out for sure how to find them or link them in this new format so maybe someone smarter than I can step in here. But remember that here in Wyoming, with our extremely dry and cold winter, composting in the coop slows way down. But either way, you'll find the chickens will sometimes make little hollows in the litter and pull their wings in, content and snug as can be. In summer mine do the same thing - but they'll lay their wings out flat over the edges of the holes to cool down.

In the end it's all about your personal comfort zone and what you think is best for your flock, regardless of what I or anyone else say. I just wanted to let you know that I'm in the same general area of the country, and we haven't found insulating necessary. Good luck! (By the way, we are in the Northwestern part of the state, 6 miles from the Montana border and about an hour and half from Yellowstone.

Edited to add: Funny, Jack...while I was typing you were posting! I do miss that little "new post notification" at the bottom!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

When the temp hits 20 and below I plug in a little cheap radiator I have inside the coop I like my flock to be happy and healthy, and I don't see them liking the freezing cold!

20 F is balmy to chickens. They'll happily peck about outside right down to 0 F. By heating your coop you are acclimating the birds to a warmer temp and they wont go outside. A sheltered area outside of the coop is all they need, toss hay down on the ice covered ground. My area is a lean too roof and two sides covered with plastic so that's three covered sides and a roof. They love it. Sure there are those days of -15 and lower they are reluctant to leave the coop. It's ok, there are not that many of those days in the grand scheme of things. Those are the mornings where it's so quite your foot falls are echoing in your ears. No animal is out and about, they are all puffed up waiting it out. Normal and only a few days of the year.

 

[hlhutchinson]

Thank you