Good Heaters?

[aart]

Hard to say for sure without doing the math

....and without a Kill-A-Watt meter to track the Kw used, then the math...with maybe the highest and lowest rates over the time period.

I think I mentioned to you last year that I tested air movement inside the coop with a smoke machine, aka my lungs and an electronic cigarette. Didn't really help much I suppose, but I blacked out 3 times from the fumes. It was just like the 1970s all over again.

 

[Northern Flights]

I had not seen your article until just now Alaskan. It's a fine write up and very comprehensive. If you're interested, I used refrigerator boxes as insulation inside the walls and it worked extremely well.

Nowhere for bugs and critters to nest in it and I reckon to have gotten ~R12 with 4 layers glued together. I'm going to cover the wall studs with same this year as they got good and chilly last winter. The best part is one doesn't need to cover it! I also have 2" of polystyrene under the floor plywood and the roof, which is a fiberglass tonneau cover from a pickup truck. Dern tootin as they say!

 

[Alaskan]

refrigerator boxes

Aren't those just huge cardboard boxes?

And thanks.

Oh.... the blue board insulation I had under the floor...the rodents pulled down.

 

[Northern Flights]

....and without a Kill-A-Watt meter to track the Kw used, then the math...with maybe the highest and lowest rates over the time period.

but 20-30/mo is probably about right. Not too bad really.

Ha! Just watched a hen race/zigzagg all across the yard after a hopper! Blasted clown birds.

 

[aart]

Maybe I didn't read carefully enough...
...but I don't think you can have "ample ventilation" and an "airtight environment".

I think I mentioned to you last year that I tested air movement inside the coop

Maybe, but I CRS...do you have a build thread(I don't see a coop page) describing your ventilation?

 

[Northern Flights]

Aren't those just huge cardboard boxes?

And thanks.

Oh.... the blue board insulation I had under the floor...the rodents pulled down.

Huge cardboard boxes indeed. I heard they are being used for homeless shelters and had an idea. It worked. As for the foam mine is sandwiched between the 3/4 floor ply with some lumber wrap underneath, which the critters don't appear to like chewing through. Might just be luck, but I'll ask one next time. So far so good.

 

[Northern Flights]

Maybe, but I CRS...do you have a build thread(I don't see a coop page) describing your ventilation?

no build thread, just random questions all over the place mostly, but I think there's still some pics in my album... I'll look and post a link fer ya!

 

[Northern Flights]

From last year. Note the heater just visible on the extreme left and the cardboard on the walls. I added another layer and foam under the roof after frost began to build up from damp chicken emissions. I had to defrost the beggar first! As for mentioning the smoke test I am still looking.

 

[Northern Flights]

These are old images, the coop etc is being moved to another site right now aamof. But you can see the ventilation across the top and a close up of same, which I have expanded a bit since. At present they are in a temporary summer residence: an 8x12 cedar shed closer to the lake, with a sundeck and view no less. Lots of pics in my album.

 

[hispoptart]

Wow, thank you guys for the great advice! I'm planning on insulating my coop already, as I live in northern Colorado. And although it doesn't get as cold here as in British Columbia, it's still in the negatives at night in the winter. Overkill is all fine by me; like y'all said, pays off in a better night's sleep!

Not sure where in Northern Colorado you are, but we live in the very far NW corner of CO, and it gets below zero here for weeks at a time and not just at night. I remember one year where it never got above 0 degrees for an entire month. The lows during that time were -30 degrees. I hate snow, but that year I prayed for it, as it had to warm up to snow. My last flock survived winters here just fine with no frostbite. They were even in one of those pre-fab coops. 4 of them in one that really wasn't big enough for more then 2-3 hens. We have very little humidity here though and I know other parts of the state have much hire. I'm in the boat that unless you have a way to get the heater back on if there's a power outage then they are better off without heat.