Best new coop treatment?

[honeynajar]

Hello all.... I've got my babies in the nursery and my brand new shed is coming that I'm going to outfit as a coop. The inside has bare wood so I know I need to treat it with something. I've been reading alot and have come across using Lime or D.E. mixed with water and use as "paint" for the inside of a coop. Could I get input from all of you seasoned farmers as to what I should do to make sure providing the best environment I can for my babies? I will end up with 9 chickens, 8 guineas, 15 meat chicks and maybe two turkeys til the season is done. Thanks so much for your help!

 

[ForgottenGlen]

As far as I have been able to tell, paint works well, just make sure it is dried and cured before introducing your birds. I've never heard of a Lime or DE and water mixture for painting. I use DE for dusting, but it no longer works as a bug killer once it is wet.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I used "porch paint" on my subflooring in my coop. It's thicker than exterior paint and should hold up better. However, after doing a LOT of reading here, I discovered that my floor still could degrade if it isn't painted or checked each year. So I also bought a small piece of vinyl flooring to lay over my floor to save it. I'm glad I did, because every time I fill up the water fount-- when I put the lid back on, it lets a bit of it drain on the floor. It's not a big problem, just when the suction comes down, it fills quickly and goes over the edge. But after filling that up for weeks on end, there ended up being a lot of water on the floor. The shavings do help dry it out, but I think without the water proof barrier that the vinyl flooring provides, it could be a big problem in a couple of years. I use DLM (deep litter method) and it does a great job of protecting the floor as well, but water is bad for your floor no matter how fast it dries. Here is my floor (before my coop was finished): It did get tacked down better than that later when I was done fitting the roosts. I ran it up the wall behind the roost to protect the wall behind the roost. Glad I did-- there is a lot of "gunk" that some how gets on the wall right behind them. Messy little girls, they are.

 

[JackE]

I used a porch paint (White) from Lowes for the walls. While at Lowes, I picked up a big can of rubberized roof coat (Blackjack #57) for the floor. I just poured a big dollop of the roof coat on the floor and pushed it around with a roller. The roofcoat totally seals the floor, plus it seals the gap where the walls meet the floor. It does not degrade and fall apart like linolium and you don't have to worry about damaging it when you shovel it out like you do with vinyl flooring. Also, unlike the other floor coverings, you don't have to worry about anything getting under it. I've had on my coop's floor for over 2yrs, and it looks just like it did when I first put it down. If this stuff can handle sealing a roof while exposed to sun, rain and whatever else nature can throw at it, protecting a chicken coop interior floor is nothing.
Jack

 

[BrokeDbrew]

i have a 5 gallon bucket of Cool Seal will that work also?

 

[ForgottenGlen]

Awesome spacious coop Hawkeye, love the yellow. JackE, I've never thought of roofcoat, that sounds like a great idea!

 

[JackE]

i have a 5 gallon bucket of Cool Seal will that work also?

I'm not familiar with cool seal. Is it a two part epoxy mix, or do you apply it straight out of the can? Is it a rubberized (Flexible) product like what I use? I would think you could use it. In the book that I got the idea for my coop from. The author wrote about how they sealed the floors of their chicken coops with a product called asphaltium (or something like that) More or less they coated their floors with road tar. Once the stuff drys/cures, You don't have to worry about the floor anymore. The floor is sealed, and the chickens can't do any damage to it.
Jack

 

[BrokeDbrew]

it is a Product for sealing metal roofs, I use it on the trucks i work on to seal up a leaking roof, it rolls on and drys and its white

 

[JackE]

it is a Product for sealing metal roofs, I use it on the trucks i work on to seal up a leaking roof, it rolls on and drys and its white

I would guess the only worry would be, is how it adheres to WOOD. Some products for metal won't stick to wood or other materials. I would definently have to know for sure before I poured it all over the coop's floor.
Jack

 

[BrokeDbrew]

yeah i might get a piece of wood and try it, the bucket says nothing about wood, but says that it will fill a porus(sp) base and will need more then one coat for that kind of aplication