**To insulate or NOT?**

[Super Admin]

Hi All, we are new chicken owners and will be re-building our coop before winter and have heard numerous opinions on insulating. Thought I would ask the folks who HAVE chickens! We live in Plymouth, MA, winters are milder here than Western MA. Have 7 chickens and making a 4x8 house. If raised up, we will definitely insulate the floor but not sure if we should insulate the whole thing. What do you think? (We have New Hampshirse girls)

 

[CityChook]

I insulated my coop and have no regrets. It gets very very cold here for a long time. Honestly, though, having the proper breeds for cold weather, zero draft inside the coop and proper ventilation are much more important than the insulation. There are tons of conversations about the pros and cons of insulation - go to the blue bar above and do a search.

 

[Matoe]

I have insulation in mine and Ilive in the sunny south but it get's cold in the winter pura vida Matoe

 

[goldnchocolate]

Here are some interesting thoughts on 'open air housing' for chickens:

http://www.nortoncreekpress.com/fresh_air_poultry_houses.html

http://www.nortoncreekpress.com/fresh-air-poultry-houses2.html

 

[alycoop]

I've seen that before on open air housing and wondered if it truly works.

I'm in SW Washington state where we only get snow for a few days each winter. Rain is what we have to contend with. We have not yet insulated our small coop, not sure that we need to.

 

[LynneP]

After last winter and weeks below -40C chill factor ( in your zone and mine) I would say insulate, and relax. Here's how we did ours-

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-Coop_Insulation

 

[patandchickens]

In your climate you certainly don't NEED to insulate for typical chickens , but you wouldn't regret it either. If you're kind of 'on the fence' about it, you might consider leaving the walls open inside and just waiting til some cheap or free materials come your way and doing the job then.

If you only insulate one thing, make it the ceiling or walls, not the floor -- the bedding you put on the floor is *already* serving as a decent amount of insulation and it's cheap to use more, and relatively little heat loss or condensation problem happens at floor level anyhow. Walls and ceiling are much more important to insulate.

If your ceiling is exposed metal or plastic on the inside then you will definitely ought to insulate it, to avoid intractable condensation/frost/humidity problems in wintertime. Even if it is plywood, if your ventilation for wintertime is a bit iffy, your air quality may benefit from insulating there.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

Good luck, have fun,

Pat