I live in Colorado Should I add insulation to my coop

[mstrrlm]

I live in Colorado at around 8800 feet in elevation and have a coop with the inner walls complete and studs exposed on the outside. I am thinking of adding insulation and exterior walls. The coop is about 2 feet off the ground and is wire mesh floor and a 6 to 8 inch slant roof made with clear stronge plastic with grooves to drain water away. There is a 6 to 7 inch gap between header and roof beams on front and back of coop for the full length. I was planning on placing hay bails around bottom of coop to block wind and retain heat from wire floor and maybe covering every other hole in roof to retain some ventilation. So should I go ahead with the insulation ( 1 inch Styrofoam) and outer wall 1/4 oBC or something like that the cheap plywood

 

[Ole rooster]

I use the R-13 fiberglass insulation mainly to have another barrier from the wind. We do get cold here in Georgia but the worse part is the wind. When I installed it I did my best to put it in every nook I could find. But this summer and all the heat we've had I found out how much difference it could make in the inside/outside temps. I very glad I did it. With the styrofoam I don't know how you would "stuff" in the nooks. But it is good insulation. I have it between the floor joist under my house and it does a good job.

I would go ahead just for piece of mind.

 

[SteveBaz]

Absoluteley. The Rockies get to cold.

 

[JerseyFresh]

I think eliminating any possible drafts while maintaining adequate ventilation would be more important. Your birds should be fine in the cold temperatures.
You won't be doing any harm by adding the insulation so if it makes you feel better go ahead

Heaven knows there are members here who are VERY attentive to their birds and there's really nothing wrong with that.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I live in WY at 7440 feet. When we built our dog house, we insulated it. We are from WI originally and weren't sure how cold it got where we moved to.

This summer my husband crawled halfway into the doghouse to pet our old lab who was sleeping in there all the time. He was worried about her being too hot. He says "wow, it is really nice in here! No wonder the dogs sleep in here all day!" The insulation helps to keep the heat out during our sunny summer days. The roof was too hot to rest your hand on it.

Back to your issue, I was going to say "don't bother" because of the wire floor and open bottom. But if you think you can get it fairly wind resistant with the haybales, go ahead and insulate it. The insulation may also keep the interior of the wall from being too cold and therefore reduce the chance of condensation on the inside.

Insulation in the roof will reduce the transfer of heat from the dark roof to the inside of the coop during summer also, even with all the ventilation.