Should I insulate the walls of my coop/minibarn?

[Toddrick]

The 6x8' minibarn I bought just has the thin outer wall like most. I'm about to install the roost and nesting boxes, but I keep going back and forth on whether to put another thin layer of plywood up to cover and protect the 2x4 frame and better insulate the coop. I doubt I will actually use insulation but an 1/8" of plywood would provide a good deal of insulation and keep the birds from pooing on the base 2x4's.

Looking for help to make the final decision and recommendations based on experience.

 

[thomasboyle]

I definitely vote for insulation. My coop is 2x4 construction with fiberglass insulation. It keeps the coop warmer in winter, cooler and summer and lessens the daily temperature swings. In the past 30 days, it dropped to 3 degrees outside. Coop never went below 15.

Here is a chart of the outside temp in CT.



Here is the temp in the coop for the same time.



The temps in the coop have less of a swing. This is better for the chickens. Now here is the temp chart for my chicken run which is wrapped in clear plastic.



The swings are larger, as the clear plastic has little insulation value. But notice the high temps. The run is usually 10-15 degrees warmer if it is a sunny day.

 

[frostbite]

Keeps it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, but you have to fill the space with some kind of insulating material that the mice don't like to nest in to get the best effect. Depends how much work you want to do. My coop has to survive winters to 50 below, so it's insulated, with a couple of quadruple paned windows for light and vented eves and pop door. Works great, but it was a lot of work. I lined the walss with 2" thick foam panels, cut to size from 4x8' sheets, and plywood back over that.

Pity the poor mouse that tries to go into that coop! Hens will get it for sure.

 

[rehric00]

I am struggling with this myself. Today we spent $400+ dollars on stuff to frame out and insulate the coop. I am strongly considering taking it all back after reading this. I kept birds in this metal shed for years before without insulation. One rooster got frostbite, but that is because it has no ventilation. I am adding some windows and vents this year before the new birds arrive. I wonder if I should just frame it out and not put up walls? The insulation I got is only R value of 6- which to me seems pointless in a way.

 

[Zoomie]

Well, most people have insulation in the walls of their home. Most people don't have rats in their house. Just because you have insulation does not automatically mean you will have rats.

We're building a coop and using rigid foam insulation, and then sealing with spray foam. It has some sort of stuff in it that rodents do not like. In addition, there is a cement floor, the bottom 2' of the walls are sheet steel etc. It's a pretty solid coop.

Mice are ubiquitous and everyone should have some sort of eradication program in place. We are particularly vigilant because of Hanta virus. But that is one reason we are being so diligent in making this coop above-and-beyond. For most people, a chicken coop is a very cheap and quick-to-build structure that they don't put much into, because why, right? Well, I have had one too many losses to raccoons. We determined to build a very tight, very strong coop, but with all that metal (the roof is metal, too) and our climate, we decided to go for the insulation. It's possible that your own situation is radically different and so you would build different.

In the end, build for your own climate, to meet the needs that you have for your chickens. If you don't have much in the way of predators you'll be fine. We have every predator in the book and then some; a bear smashed our neighbor's coop to shreds and killed most of the chickens, then tried to get into their house. You may be dealing with different issues; build to suit your local issues.

 

[lazy gardener]

If any insulation at all, I'd opt for some in the roof to help with summer cooling, not necessarily with winter heating. If doing new construction and money is available, I'd consider double sheathed roof with styrofoam between sheathing layers. If a coop is adequately ventilated, insulation is really going to be a moot point IMO. BUT, here's my thought: Provide lots of natural light, oriented to the south and east (if you live in a cold climate) with good quality windows. On a sunny day, the interior of my coop will be 30* warmer than the outside temp. I also provide a winter sun room in the run. It consists of framing which supports a green house tarp. Construction grade plastic (I think mine is 6 mil. over east wall, and 7 - 10' of south and north wall of run to provide wind break. Temp in sun room has the birds out scratching around any time the temp is above 15*. Sun room runs about 20* warmer than outside temp.

Insulation would provide haven for mice, rats, AND MITES.

 

[Birdinhand]

Outside of adding insulation under the roof, to help with summer heat, insulation, in a coop is USELESS. Waste of time, effort, and money. What good does insulation do, if you have the coop open to the outside for fresh air/ventilation? Answer, absolutely none. Because as we all know, the coop HAS to be open, and ventilated, even through the coldest winter days. It kinda cracks me up, to read about people saying, that their coop is 10-15 degrees warmer inside, than the outside temp is, because they have insulation. I have a Wood's coop, the whole front wall is wide open, year round. There is not one piece of foam, not one batt, no insulation at all. Except what the chickens are already wearing. And guess what, during the winter the coop is 10-15 degrees warmer inside. Sometimes, higher than that. I actually have to crack open the upper monitor vent windows, for more fresh air. The birds themselves generate the warmth. I read somewhere, that each bird, is like a 10W lightbulb in the coop. All of them giving off warmth.

Put insulation in the walls, then add some interior walls, and you are setting up a perfect habitat for rodents, insects pest, and who knows what else, to set up shop. A coop is not like your house. You usually don't have your doors open, and food laying around on the ground/floor. (Some houses do, but that's another story, and they'll have a rat problem too) It's enough of a job to keep things relatively clean and orderly in a coop. Don't make the job more difficult, by giving the pests a nice hidden place to live, in the coop. I see people say on here... "Well, I have insulation, and I don't have any mice or rats." You don't know what you have going on in the coop with 100% certainty, because you can't see through walls. When it's noticeable, you have a BIG problem. The pests have already established themselves. Your chickens will have noticed the problem, long before you. But, sadly, they can't tell you.

And if I have first yr pullets in the coop, guess what, I get eggs through the winter too.

it cracks me up when someone assumes there is only one way of looking at things and lambastes everyone who thinks differently for being simple minded just because the person is unfamiliar with all the variations of practices out there. with my coop, the entire area is covered by a roof and open on the sides, I am not advocating using insulation there. it's only the inner coop where the chickens roost that is insulated. the chickens enter through a small hatch size opening in the floor of the inner coop with only the amount of ventilation added at the top necessary to keep ammonia levels from being toxic. In my design, insulation definitely increases temperature and for anyone with a coop with roosts higher than the door, it can help create a thermocline at the very least. I use a deep mulch bio-active approach on the floor of the inner coop, so the need for ventilation is minimized by very low amonia levels. come to whatever conclusion you want for yourself but realize there are other ways of thinking about and doing things. in our climate the issue isn't as much extreme cold, it's the dark so I also added windows for better winter egg production and I figured that anything to help my hens conserve energy would reduce their feed intake and may help increase egg production. I've read that in some climates it does but I don't have a double blind study with stats to point to. I do know my egg production is great now after adding insulation and windows and I do know that on rare occasion we get sudden drops in temperature and insulation helps moderate those swings where they roost for times when it gets cold suddenly and the birds have not gotten their winter coat. as for pests moving in, I used a type of insulation that does not allow that and I have had an opportunity to peak inside, I've changed the design a little bit here and there and cut into it and voilla, nothing lives inside. installing rigid foam insulation and using spray foam to seal the seams really doesn't leave room for pests and not much out there likes to eat rigid foam or even make a nest in it. rigid foam insulation is inherently pest and water resistant. I would recommend against using anything that can be easily made into a nest or absorb moisture, like fiberglass insulation. everyone has to take a look at their particular situation and weigh the costs and benefits as they see fit. for me, the investment was like maybe $40 and allows me the option to open and close vents as needed, keeping it cooler in the summer (my coop gets direct sun) and warmer in the winter. I prefer passive appraoches with one up front cost vs say a light bulb or heat lamp which require buld replacement and electricity and pose a fire risk over the long run. it works well enough to keep the water from freezing inside the inner coop in the winter when it does freeze solid in the outer coop and that can be a life saver. what's my ROI? I have no idea but it is working to my liking.

 

[RichM]

I find thomasboyles data to be pretty convincing. Clearly, it is not necessary to insulate a chicken coop in the continental US, but if you were a chicken, would you like your coop to be a few degrees warmer in winter? I'm pretty sure I would like that. Ventilation is a big factor in energy transfer, but maybe not as much as common sense would predict. Ventilation plus thin walls appears quite different than ventilation plus insulated walls according to the data.

I think the only issue is with mice and rats. If you can avoid those, then it can work. As for mites, wood is full of little mite sized holes. Anywhere there's a knot is going to have cracks you can't reach. Plywood especially has little tunnels running throughout. One panel of plywood could probably harbor a billion of them, and I can't imagine how you could treat that.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Cons..

A place for mice to hide

Gary

 

[Toddrick]

Cons..

A place for mice to hide

Gary

That's a good point. Nowhere to hide from the little dinosaurs as it is...