Insulation... better think about it.

I think the mistake is just covering it with plastic. If it had been covered in paneling, perhaps they wouldn't have been able to get to the insulation. I am surprised that your chickens didn't peck through the plastic and eat the insulation.....I learned that one the hard way! My insulation is now all covered with wood panels and I don't have a problem.

Also, I assume the food was on the floor if the mice were getting into it? Try hanging it from the ceiling at the height of the backs of the chickens.

Good luck! It is -18 here this morning so my chickens are loving their insulation and heat lamp today

 

You really have to stay on top of mouse control. I use the Victor repeating mouse trap, it doesn't take ant winding or baiting. Just place it along the wall and in the morning dump all the mice into a bucket of water. If you use a couple of them they will just about take care of your mouse problem in a week.

 

Leaving exposed batt insulation is a great way to provide nesting material for mice as you have obviously discovered. Batt insulation provides a much higher R value than foam but either can easily be chewed into by mice. You must completly enclose the wall with some kind of paneling to insure they can't get into it. Even then you need to check periodically to insure they aren't trying to chew their way into the wall. If you can't make the room mouseproof then the walls must be completely enclosed. Until then you are better off with no insulation at all. They chewed right through the drywall covering I had in my outdoor deer blind in no time flat. I would recomend floor underlayment or 1/4" plywood.

 

They are persistent. I had one eat thru sheetrock from my attic to my pantry. Trapped him same day. I walked around the house to see where he could have gotten in, and decided a gap between the soffit and the conduit that the 240V comes in to the meter box was the place. I caulked it and never had another mouse in the attic. He was a one-timer in our 21 years here. he did not climb the conduit, but he did climb the brick next to it.

Have had them to chew thru the rubber weather strip at base of garage door to get into either of our two attached garages. I sometimes set a trap in there just to see if one has gottne in during the winter. Often as not, I catch one at least.

 

It's true you need a rodent proof interior to use insulation. Sheathing will protect it from the chickens and vapor seal will cut the drafts and assist in moisture control but all of this depends on rodent control- hence our cats...

 

Mice are less apt to set up condos in rigid foam as opposed to batts... but they still can if they want to.

This is why it is good to use actual plywood to cover the insulation, with *tight carpentry* if you suspect rodents around. Don't leave gaps, and they won't even know what they're missing. LEAVE gaps, or omit sheathing, and yes, it can get kind of amazing.

I am thinking of a (horse) boarding barn I once knew that had extra-thick fiberglass insulation batts on all the ceilings until rats started *literally* falling down onto the horses left and right one winter...

Pat