Hi all. I have an opportunity to get a small garden shed that is being built by my local high school construction class. I am planning on using this for my meat bird coop. The only concern i have is that it has cedar siding on it. I know it has been discussed ad nauseum here about cedar shavings being bad for chickens litter, but i haven't seen anything about coop siding being cedar. Is this a no no or not. Any opinions or suggestions on the matter would be appreciated.
Cedar is not the only wood that can be quite aromatic, including pine, and there is more than one variety of cedar. Any of them can be irritating to chickens' respiratory system. It is a matter of degree. There are people on here who have kept chickens for 40 or 50 years and use cedar shavings as part of their litter for odor and bug control. I used some leftover cedar shavings, myself, but my coop is very open air so there was no "pooling" of cedar fumes. It did not smell like cedar in there, mixed in with the older pine shavings and the hay. If the siding is outside and it doesn't smell like cedar inside, I would go for it. It's a judgment call.
We used cedar pickets for fencing to make the sides of our first coop. It worked out fine. Just make sure the wood isn't too sappy or aromatic.
Cedar is an excellent building material wood. It is lightweight, strong, and has good rot resistant and insect resistant properties. Cedar will cost more than say pine so it is an upgrade material. It will have a short term aroma but it is not harmful. Cedar shavings have a strong aroma that many claim can cause respiratory irritations for the birds. We use cedar for our fence posts and gates here on the farm due to its excellent properties.
