insulating coop

[bucky52]

whats the pro and cons.

 

[americana-lover]

Pros

• keeps the heat your chickens or a heat source provides inside the coop, so you wont need to keep the lamp on as long, saves your electric bill
• traps the cold breeze that runs through your coop so it will stay colder in the blasting heat of summer
• will make it harder for any predator to bust through the doors or walls, they cant get through the insulation
• saves you money from trapping in the heat/cold air
• will make your chickens feel safer and happier

Cons

• will cost a little more money
• just a small amount of extra work

If you live in an area, like here in MI where they are multiple climates( i.e. -1 below 0 or 102 deg. ) you really should insulate your coop. But if you live in a tropical climate, like HI, then you might not need to, because the temp will stay the same and the chickens will get used to the tempature.
Hope this helps you!

 

[Hawkeye95]

depends on what kind of a building you are going to build. Birds just need to be draft free in winter-- nothing hitting them when they are on the roost. I built a typical 2X4 framed out building. I put on the pre-primed cement lap siding on the outside of the frame and then thought about putting in a layer of pink fiberglass insulation on the inside, because I was going to cover up the inside with OSB board anyway. Once I got to the point, I'd already gone over my budget BIG time... I thought about it and it was pretty tight and decided not to put in the insulation. I haven't regretted it. Last winter, the birds were just fine and plenty warm, and we get pretty cold here, with snow. Our water was freezing up every single night, so I built a "cookie tin heater"-- the link is in my signature line if you want to make your own so you don't have frozen water in the winter. But otherwise, the birds were really happy and my vents are up in the eaves and kept them well ventilated. I also ran electric to my coop and did turn on my heat lamp for about a week because the winter got really, really, really cold. The heat lamp just took the edge off. I have it hanging up high in my rafters. I don't even know that I'll need to use it this coming winter, as the girls are now older.

as you can see, this is a super "tight" building, because I sheathed the outside with OSB board over my 2X4 frame, before I put on my siding and then put OSB on the inside too-- I found that I really didn't need insulation.

 

[Hawkeye95]

BTW, chickens tolerate colder climates BETTER than hot ones. There have been many people on here from Alaska with chickens and most of them don't even insulate their coops! They have reported great success with their birds. But they did build a pretty sound building, like mine. It's the wind and the breeze they are going to have problems with, not the cold itself. And you don't need to heat your building, unless they are young. I did because my birds were 6 weeks old during the winter, and they needed it. I had older birds in another pen out in my horse barn and they didn't need heat at all! And I keep a large breezeway door open during the winter and so long as there isn't much of a good breeze over them, they are fine!

 

[bucky52]

thanks for the info,now to convince my dh.with this heat wave we are having was thinking it would help keep it cooler.

 

[JackE]

As far as cold goes, chickens have their own insulation, and don't need any help from us. If your coop is properly ventilated, it's not like you are going to keep all the heat in during the winter months anyway. I can see insulating the roof to help with summer heat, other than that, insulation is a waste of time and money. Another potential big problem with insulating the walls, is that you MUST install interior walls over the insulation. When you do that with a chicken coop, you give rodents or any other kind of pest a nice secure hidden place to set up housekeeping of their own.
Jack

 

[karlamaria]

we insulated, so glad we did as that coop is amazingly cool inside and much warmer in the winter. we really did a good job at insulating it, and put a ceiling vent at the top. we have -30 below temps or lower, so insulating is just a good thing to do. we never had a frost bit comb or waddle and my girls are always happy. we even added a roof to the pen and will be enclosing it this winter as we did last winter to keep artic cold out. this is this years coop and run

and last years coop and run.. we plan to use clear plastic this year in the winter months, but we could not last winter, we used a 10x10x10 dog kennel last year