Planning ahead for next year...coop insulation idea...

[bearz]

OK, the coop is OK but I'd like to have it a little better insulated next year. Just enough so that with the heat lamp the water won't freeze and neither will the eggs.

The building we have is a 12x16 shed. It has the normal 2x4s 16 inches on center. I was sitting here thinking that I get a lot of newspaper during the course of the year, and why couldn't I use that to insulate. I could nail 18 inch wide strips of that paneling with the holes in it...name escapes me now...horizontally and slide in newspaper stacks on their sides to fill in between each support. It should be just the right height and width. I could do that up to the roof and then just put in regular insulation covered with the same boards. The holes would allow for air circulation to prevent molding but the newspapers would insulate really well, plus since they use soy ink now it wouldn't hurt the birds if they pecked at the holes in the walls. It would be easy to take down in the spring...thinking of mice...and then I could use the paper in my garden for weed control.

What do you think...am I nuts? I'm trying to think green and reuse all this stuff that accumulates rather than it going to recycling centers.

 

[Mahonri]

I'm thinking of adding a small layer of insulation and if I can get the coop wired properly I'll add a window air conditioner or swamp cooler for those hot summer months.

Am I nuts?

 

[patandchickens]

Sorry, but despite holes (which will radically decrease the modest insulation value it'd have) it will become a mold farm, judging by the newspapers used to block off openings in my current old (mostly unused) horse barn and several other barns/sheds I've known in the past. There is also the risk of doing some damage to your coop structure by holding moisture in -- and it *will*.

Sawdust is better, if you really wanna do something organic and cheap -- it is more mold-resistant than paper.

Any loose fill like that is apt to develop a thriving mouse population, not necessarily a reason not to use loose fill insulation (fiberglass batts too) but something to at least know going in.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[ZooMummzy]

Quote:
Nope! In my new coop next year, I'm putting in the window air conditioner/heater from the garage. Insulation molds here no matter how good of job you do and I am scared to death of heat lamps (just another fire last night in our area from them). In the summer, I spent a lot of money hauling in ice blocks and hooking up fans for the girls. They are going to be comfortable next year. I wonder what else I can get hubby to hook for them.....