Insulate coop roof?

[ETortellini]

I am planning on building a new wooden hen house. Ive read on here many times that ventilation is important and insulation is not needed however, what about the inside roof? Is the roof necessary and if so why?

 

[Mellowmalt]

It might depend on the breed of chicken and how cold it gets at yours. Most seem to not need insulation, there are some breeds that don't like getting as cold but like you say ventilation is always needed - ideally higher up so insulating the roof will have less benefit as it will be ventilated.
It's a tricky question since the coop gets as cold as the outside air anyway unless there are a lot of chicken in the coop so I try to keep the nesting boxes warmer so they can all snuggle in there on really cold nights if they want to.

But everyone has a different approach to this - just what I do. Insulating the whole coop is probably not worth it for chickens but giving them a draft free area to huddle together is what I do.

Some wouldn't want their chickens pooping in the nesting boxes - if they are cold then I don't mind them doing it.

 

[ETortellini]

It might depend on the breed of chicken and how cold it gets at yours. Most seem to not need insulation, there are some breeds that don't like getting as cold but like you say ventilation is always needed - ideally higher up so insulating the roof will have less benefit as it will be ventilated.
It's a tricky question since the coop gets as cold as the outside air anyway unless there are a lot of chicken in the coop so I try to keep the nesting boxes warmer so they can all snuggle in there on really cold nights if they want to.

But everyone has a different approach to this - just what I do. Insulating the whole coop is probably not worth it for chickens but giving them a draft free area to huddle together is what I do.

Some wouldn't want their chickens pooping in the nesting boxes - if they are cold then I don't mind them doing it.

I am in N. NJ the breeds are Barred Rock, barred rock x leghorn, coo koo moran & cookoo x rock.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

A location would help.

You can see mine at left. Down here where it gets both hot (mid 90s) and humid (also mid 90s) for days at a time, many months of the year, ventilation is FAR more important than insulation - though insulation would (theoretically) help mitigate my brutal sun pounding down on the roof of my hen house. I also have heavy breeds not famed for heat tolerance, including CornishX and Dark Brahma (my errors, I'm breeding away undesired traits)

I use a galvanized metal roof for cost, for ease, for durability, and because it reflects much more heat than it absorbs (something that can't be said of any shingled roof) and doesn't trap heat, greenhouse-like, as a polycarbonate panel would. Passive airflow designs with good overhang and a ridge vent ensure cooler, drier air is constantly moving upwards along the underside of the metal roof, pulling warmer, wetter, ammonia-laden coop air out with it, while also cooling the underside of the roof, to reduce radiated heat. The relatively low mass ensures it doesn't long buffer temperature changes, either. As a final benefit, brief visual inspection allows me to see if there are any leaks (rain is my big concern), since the "guts" of the roof structure are in full view. No hidden damage.

There **may** be a situation where an insulated coop is worthwhile, and its ventilation designed in a way that the insulation is necessary, effective, and yet does not inhibit the extraction of warm, moist, ammonia laden air from the coop - but it is not the norm.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not totally sure I follow. What I think you are asking is whether it is necessary to insulate the underside of a roof? In some conditions it is a good idea, but not necessary in others.

Condensation can form on the underside of your roof in certain weather, especially if it is metal or plastic. With mine this happens in the spring more than other times of the year but we all live in different climates. Your house probably has insulation or a vapor barrier to prevent this. If condensation is a problem insulating the underside of your roof can stop this.

How severe is your climate? For most of us insulating the coop isn't necessary if you have good ventilation. Some people in extremely cold climates (-20 F or -30 C for example) find insulation helpful. Some of that depends on how big your coop is and how it is built. People notice a difference inside if it is insulated, especially with a walk-in coop built on the ground.

In ridiculously hot climates you might gain some benefit in insulating under your roof. But if you have decent ventilation this should not be a problem.

Chickens will eat ventilation so if you add it you need to cover it so they can't get to it.

Also adding insulation may create a good safe place for Mommy Mouse to raise a family. Mice will be attracted to chicken feed. Many coops already have places for mice to hide so this might not matter much to them.

I saw you posted your location while I was typing. Your climate shouldn't be that extreme.

 

[ETortellini]

I'm not totally sure I follow. What I think you are asking is whether it is necessary to insulate the underside of a roof? In some conditions it is a good idea, but not necessary in others.

Condensation can form on the underside of your roof in certain weather, especially if it is metal or plastic. With mine this happens in the spring more than other times of the year but we all live in different climates. Your house probably has insulation or a vapor barrier to prevent this. If condensation is a problem insulating the underside of your roof can stop this.

How severe is your climate? For most of us insulating the coop isn't necessary if you have good ventilation. Some people in extremely cold climates (-20 F or -30 C for example) find insulation helpful. Some of that depends on how big your coop is and how it is built. People notice a difference inside if it is insulated, especially with a walk-in coop built on the ground.

In ridiculously hot climates you might gain some benefit in insulating under your roof. But if you have decent ventilation this should not be a problem.

Chickens will eat ventilation so if you add it you need to cover it so they can't get to it.

Also adding insulation may create a good safe place for Mommy Mouse to raise a family. Mice will be attracted to chicken feed. Many coops already have places for mice to hide so this might not matter much to them.

I saw you posted your location while I was typing. Your climate shouldn't be that extreme.the

100 degrees at the hottest and it can get to the negative teens at the coldest, depending on the year.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

100 degrees at the hottest and it can get to the negative teens at the coldest, depending on the year.

Your July averages are closer to 90 for most of NJ, and its only broken 100 a few times in the last century. You don't need insulation for that.

We have posters here who keep adult, fully feathered chickens in uninsulated coops at much colder (albeit drier) climates as well, such as Alaska and parts of Canada. So I'm going to offer a "maybe?" (if you plan to put the brooder out there, or rely on broody hens to do that work), and otherwise suspect that "no insulation needed" is going to be the group consensus. Again, i have no first hand experiences with raising chicken in your cold. Lowest we get is 20s for a few days, sometimes dipping into high teens for a few hours.

That's damned cold to me, but my birds didn't seem to notice.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had chickens in -10 F or a little colder. I would not insulate for that. And I've had them in +110 F or warmer. I had good ventilation so insulation in the coop would not have helped. Shade during the day and wetting an area in the shade to cool the ground helped, that was getting hot. But by bedtime the coop had cooled enough.

 

[jreardon1918]

I would say no. We are a bit north of you. We do not have any insulation. The girls do fine all year round. YMMV

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

Insulating the roof shouldn't be necessary unless you find that your particular climate conditions cause moisture to condense on the underside of the roof and rain down on the chickens -- and even then my first thought would to be to increase the roof-level ventilation so that warm, moist air never builds up to contact cold metal/plastic in the first place.

Are you very close to the water? I have a friend in a coastal area who has condensation problems in her actual house because of the frequent seasonal fogs and general high humidity levels.

What does your intended coop look like? How is the ventilation going to be arranged?