Foam insulated Coop. Anyone?

[Flashy2003]

Hi, Ive been looking at coop designs for a while and I am just now starting to get a good idea of what i want to build. I live in the North East and as some of you know we can have some cold winter days. So what I'm getting at is I would like to build a coop with 1/2 plywood on the inside with T-11 on the outside with a foam insulator in between. I work in the construction field and this is used all the time . But I have yet to see it on any coop. It would help keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer or am i wrong? Please let me know if I'm missing anything. Thanks

 

[NH Femivore]

We use foam insulation in our coop with great success. Our coop is 1/2" plywood then 1/2" pink foam insulation which is then covered by nice thick recycled boxes. Our girls are toasty warm and when the cardboard gets nasty we can replace it easily and for free!
Good luck with your coop!
Laurie

 

[Liamm_1]

There are reasons it is used in the construction industry. To keep the human inhabitants of a building comortable. Humans have no feathers, chickens do. Also, it's designed to reduce the energy needed to heat/cool a building, again, to keep humans comfortable. When humans go outside in the cold, we put on jackets (some made from down lol), to keep warm. Chickens have their down jackets on all the time. It's been said time and time again, that chickens don't need much protection, all the way down to -20F at least. Even in Alaska they raise chickens without heat. Adding it to a coop would be for your comfort mostly, as the chickens are much more daptable to cold than we are. I'd guess that maybe if it's too comfy in the coop on cold days, they might not want to venture outside to forage lol.

 

[ranchhand]

As long as the chickens can't get to the foam it's good. But they LOVE to eat styrofoam!

 

[critterranch]

yes i have regular fiberglass r-12 in mine t-111 onoutside i covered r-12 with the cheaper osb 3/8 and painted with white wash . i repaint inside once a year. my coop stays about 10-20 degrees warmer than outside. but you need good ventalation so you dont get condensation. i dont use water warmers either. it can be 8 or 10 out side and it will be 34 in coop. it helps to keep extra chickens for body heat. i have 21 chickens in my 8x8 coop 9 layers and 12 silkies this year. normally i try to keep 30 for winter. one year i did have 35 but most were bantams. it was a bit much. too much poo
28-30 is good for space if you mix layers with bantams. the year i had 35 it went down to zero and it was still 22 and no frostbite. only heat in my coop is regular 100 watt bulb on 16 hours to help them lay through winter. thats all.lol

 

[greenriver]

Check this recent thread out

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=434565

 

[pkfarms]

This is my first time posting on BYC ...but I had to ! You are describing what I have. We live in Michigan and this is my first year with my chickens. a friend built my" chicken palace "...as my husband calls it. It is ..t-11 on the outside with foam insulation and then we used 3/8 inch OSB on the walls. My husband tells me it is cheaper. the floor is raised and pressure treated 5/8 inch plywood. the design of the roof is great! It has a small attic space for storage with a removable panel door. I have it closed up in the winter and in the summer I will be able to removed it for better ventalation . We also put the extra foam up on the attic floor. the best part...A few weeks ago we have bitter cold for about 10 days straight. (below 20) and the coop stayed cozy. I did put a heat lamp in for a while ...like I said..I am new at this and I worried about frozen chicken ! But I was assured by friends that they would be fine and I weaned them off of it. HOpe this helps....

 

[sammileah]

i use the foam and empty feed bags. my biggest reason to insulate is takes longer for eggs to freeze. i have a girl who likes to lay at night but doesn't set on it so i find frozen eggs. i have heat lamp in shed for a light so only on 4 hours a day. and i up the corn rations in the winter.

 

[Flashy2003]

I feel better knowing that someone else is doing this also. And that it works good. So i will be insulating my new coop. Thanks for the feed back.

 

[patandchickens]

Foam is an extremely common insulating material for coops (covered to prevent pecking).

The main thing you need to know is that it provides wonderful (and super messy!) mouse habitat if your carpentry is "loose". Make sure that all the wood butts tightly to other wood everywhere so as not to invite mice to try to move in. Because if they do, they are impossible to evict without taking apart the walls, AND they will bury the inside of the coop in "styrofoam kibble"

Good luck, have fun,

Pat