To insulate or to not insulate

[emkawa]

Im curious what you ended up doing with the insulation? Im in MN and we also have cold winters, lately not much snow, so I'm concerned about not having the snow act as insulation on the -20 Fahrenheit days, which are not uncommon and usually occur for several days straight. Our typical lows are around 10 Fahrenheit for the months of Dec, Jan, Feb, Nov & March also have average below freezing temps. I have a small coop 4 feet x 6 feet and have some foam board insulation I was considering using. I have one decent ventilation "window" 32 inches x 8 inches and plan to add another to help evacuate excess moisture. The girls will be free range and only kept in the coop during the day on the coldest of days. I feel like insulating is the right move to make but I'm scared cause so many people say don't do it - but does everyone how cold it ACTUALLY gets - like so so so so so cold. not just a little cold. like we wear shorts when its 50 out and we are like this is awesome its so ward today! Literally anything over 70 for me personally is like tropical! Thanks in advance for any input

 

[Welshies]

Im curious what you ended up doing with the insulation? Im in MN and we also have cold winters, lately not much snow, so I'm concerned about not having the snow act as insulation on the -20 Fahrenheit days, which are not uncommon and usually occur for several days straight. Our typical lows are around 10 Fahrenheit for the months of Dec, Jan, Feb, Nov & March also have average below freezing temps.  I have a small coop 4 feet x 6 feet and have some foam board insulation I was considering using.  I have one decent ventilation "window" 32 inches x 8 inches and plan to add another to help evacuate excess moisture.  The girls will be free range and only kept in the coop during the day on the coldest of days.  I feel like insulating is the right move to make but I'm scared cause so many people say don't do it -  but does everyone how cold it ACTUALLY gets - like so so so so so cold.  not just a little cold. like we wear shorts when its 50 out and we are like this is awesome its so ward today! Literally anything over 70 for me personally is like tropical!  Thanks in advance for any input 

We are northern Alberta, of course, but we insulated the whole coop with pink fiberglass insulation. covered with a vapor barrior.

At the front we have a 6" ventilation (uncloseable, unlike the back) slit all the way across, covered with 1/2" hardware cloth.