Reflective Mylar liner for chicken coop

[blackgoat]

I was thinking of using mylar for insulation. To prevent pecking, I was going to cover it with old blankets. But, then I was thinking it might not work if it's covered and can't reflect. Does the mylar need to be uncovered for it to work?

 

[EskimoChknMama]

I'm a first time chicken mama here in south-central Alaska. Some people up here do very well with minimalistic approaches to raising their chickens and have no problems, whereas others are always looking for little cost-effective ways into making our chickens more comfortable. Just because they can survive our very cold temps, it doesn't mean that it doesn't feel bad for them to have to do so. I currently have a heat lamp safely hung in my cardboard insulated coop. Over the past couple decades, we've had some unseasonably warm winters up here. This year, it seems like winter is back with a vengeance and its been pretty much sub zero temps since October. Even with the heat lamp, my chickens are struggling to keep warm. (I currently have 4 Polish chickens defrosting ice chunks from their head plumes in my garage.) I want to conserve as much heat as I can in their coop, so I searched the web to see if lining my coop with emergency blankets would actually help to heat it up some. No, I don't really have all the scientific factors down like you do, but you would think a reflective emergency blanket would help warm thing up some, right?

 

[Tumbling K]

I'm a first time chicken mama here in south-central Alaska. Some people up here do very well with minimalistic approaches to raising their chickens and have no problems, whereas others are always looking for little cost-effective ways into making our chickens more comfortable. Just because they can survive our very cold temps, it doesn't mean that it doesn't feel bad for them to have to do so. I currently have a heat lamp safely hung in my cardboard insulated coop. Over the past couple decades, we've had some unseasonably warm winters up here. This year, it seems like winter is back with a vengeance and its been pretty much sub zero temps since October. Even with the heat lamp, my chickens are struggling to keep warm. (I currently have 4 Polish chickens defrosting ice chunks from their head plumes in my garage.) I want to conserve as much heat as I can in their coop, so I searched the web to see if lining my coop with emergency blankets would actually help to heat it up some. No, I don't really have all the scientific factors down like you do, but you would think a reflective emergency blanket would help warm thing up some, right?

with a little bit of fitting, you can use this stuff

https://www.amazon.com/Smoothfoam-Sheet-Crafts-Modeling-36-Inch/dp/B00A2GIZIG

I once was on a job site farther north than where I live and the travel trailer I was staying in, did not have insulated black water tanks. They froze. I trimmed some 2" thick foam board to act as skirting around the trailer, and put a heat lamp, and in a day, they thawed. After they thawed, I was able to remove the heat lamp, and they stayed thawed throughout the winter, with just the residual heat from the trailer above keeping it warm enough under there.