Straw or Hay For Better Insulation

[FunnyBunnies12]

Which holds better insulation from the wind and cold? Straw or Hay? I know hay is for eating and it's softer. I've decided to move my ducks up onto our deck for the winter because the sun will shine on the wood heat it up better and they are closer to us, and we will be able to get to them better to feed/water them, or bring them in during really harsh temps/wind, rain, ect. Plus they seem to enjoy looking in from the slider to see what we are doing. Because where we have them snow tends to drift high. I'm going to get bails of straw or hay and stack them around the igloo I brought up for them, then put a board on top as their roof, then a vinyl shower curtain or the pool cover to keep the rain/snow off the straw/hay as well as the wind, probably the pool cover since it's designed for harsh winter weather when closing a pool, at least until next year when we can build a better and more suitable shelter for when all the ducks are together. I'll take a picture when I am done with it.

 

[katharinad]

Straw is supposed to be better, but it really depends on what you can get locally. I could not find straw, because they ship all of it down to CA for the rich horse owners. The cheapest I could find was rye. The hole plant shredded with straw, hay, and the grain on it. I have to say I like it because my ducks shift through it for seeds.
Also each bale weight around 100 pounds. Make sure your deck can handle all the weight in one spot. You can get an insulated igloo cover instead. I've seen them, and it seems all the rednecks out here have them on their pick up trucks dogs included. I bet you can find it on google or ebay. The key is to keep the ducks warm from below. They also sell heat pads for those igloos.