I totally insulate all of my birds buildings. Maine Winters can be miserable like yours and I would much rather be safe than sorry. The buildings for my ducks and geese is insulated with the fiberglass insulation and then covered over with OSB, caulked and painted. They have a 2' x 4' area in the front building that is covered with rubberized hardware cloth and their feed and water is available for them inside during the bad months. This 'water porch' area needs to be expanded to better accommodate the water issues, but I'll get that done this summer. Since my buildings are up off the ground I also went around the bottom of these with plastic to form a wind break. All winter, even when it was -20 to -30, I didn't have frozen water in any of my houses. When it was in the minus range I would run a single heat lamp in the goose/duck house. It kept 168 sq. ft. between 33 and 38 degrees, depending on how hard the wind was blowing. Chicken house, 288 sq. ft., one heat lamp in the front corner room, and a 100 watt bulb in the back. their building stayed between 34 and 42 degrees even when it was minus 30 with the winds screaming. With talking with other people in my area, I found I used about half the feed they did to keep twice as many birds alive and well during last winter's cold. I would never not insulate, the Winters here can just be too brutal to think about my birds trying to tough it out and survive.Thanks everyone.
@Amiga: I was planning on using regular rolled insulation for my new chicken coop. Is that bad and could you tell me why exactly? I too want my Muscovy to thrive winter, not just survive. I just didn't want to do something unnecessary. Do you have pics you could post, I can't quite picture the drop ceiling panels. I KNOW my hubby would not be willing to share part of our home w/ them, lol! Besides our basement is a finished basement and not a walk out
I won't say rolled insulation is bad. But I saw what rolled insulation can get like after a few years, and . . . well . . . it was yucky. Some slid down the wall so it was only in 2/3 of the wall, some got mousy and kinda moldy. I have seen people use sheets of foam for insulation, but if that gets hot (from a burning plywood wall, for example) it gases off deadly fumes. So. It was more expensive but I don't worry about mold or fumes and the R value seemed pretty good.Thanks everyone.
@Amiga: I was planning on using regular rolled insulation for my new chicken coop. Is that bad and could you tell me why exactly? I too want my Muscovy to thrive winter, not just survive. I just didn't want to do something unnecessary. Do you have pics you could post, I can't quite picture the drop ceiling panels. I KNOW my hubby would not be willing to share part of our home w/ them, lol! Besides our basement is a finished basement and not a walk out
Wow, I've never had those problems with the rolled insulation. Since I'm always changing something here, lol, I had many an oppurtunity through the years to take out walls and see the stuff and the only time I ever saw any type of damage to the fiberglass was when there was a water leak because of a roofing screw being missing. I don't doubt you Amiga, just never seen it but the one time.I won't say rolled insulation is bad. But I saw what rolled insulation can get like after a few years, and . . . well . . . it was yucky. Some slid down the wall so it was only in 2/3 of the wall, some got mousy and kinda moldy. I have seen people use sheets of foam for insulation, but if that gets hot (from a burning plywood wall, for example) it gases off deadly fumes. So. It was more expensive but I don't worry about mold or fumes and the R value seemed pretty good.
Lest you think that I think that what I used is perfect,last summer I had to execute some yellow jackets that had found a way to get between the walls, so there was enough room for them probably in the top inch or three after the vermiculite settled to make a nest. I hate killing things, but they had to go. My lessons were, consider caulking (I thought things were tight enough not to need to), and accept that the unexpected happens and must be dealt with.
