Chicken Run question.

[Denethor]

Hi I'm new to the forum but love what i've been reading here! I have a question in regards to chicken run safety. Is Treated lumber or Cedar posts dangerous for Chicken runs? I can't seem to get a consensus anywhere! I'd like to have as organic an environment as we can have for our 30 chickens but also don't want to be rebuilding my run every year.

Thanks for any help you can give. We are starting building tomorrow and i have to make a decision this afternoon on what material to purchase.

 

[MrSelf Destruct]

All lumber I use in my run is treated. The posts are 4x4's. Cedar should be fine if used outside. From my understanding it isn't necessarily the wood that is the issue but the strong smell if fresh cedar is used inside a coop.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi and welcome.
Unfortunately it is unlikely you will find the consensus here either as there are certain subjects which, if you ask 10 "chicken people" you will get 11 different answers, lol. I will say that many people use treated lumber and never have a single issue.....most of the "no" votes I have heard or read have come out of concerns of what *could* happen rather than any actual, "This is what DID happen". Yes, it "could" seep into the surrounding environment and your chicken "could" peck at and ingest some treated wood....however in all the years I have had or been around chickens I have not once seen them become destructive to the lumber like that unless there were other contributing factors such as lack of feed, over crowding, stress, etc. In my personal experience, happy, healthy chickens don't go out of their way to consume wood. I would not hesitate to construct a coop/run using treated lumber.

 

[Denethor]

I hear you and thank you for your post! I've heard that over time the toxins can/will leach into the soil. My concern is also in regard to them pecking on the ground. My guess is that no one would see "physical" symptoms in their chickens, only what can't be seen such as a build up of toxins in the chickens hence transfering those toxins into the eggs.

Any opinions on Cedar vs Treated pine?

 

[MrSelf Destruct]

Also, about treated lumber...

Before 2003, lumber was treated with chromated copper arsenate....AKA arsenic, which is extremely toxic. Now lumber is treated with amine copper quat and copper azole which are supposed to be much less toxic due to the inability to be absorbed by the body. So, if you are using real old treated lumber I 'might' worry. I generally only buy treated because it costs the same as non-treated and I can use it in more applications. The downside to treated is sometimes it is not as easy to cut.

 

[MrSelf Destruct]

Pine would definitely be cheaper. One of my 'fence posts' is the trunk of a cedar tree that the top got damaged in an ice storm. I cut the top of the tree off and left a 5 or 6' 'fence post' in the ground. One less hole to dig! The girls never mess with it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Only 11 answers from 10 people? You’re being kind this morning.

You cannot be certified organic if you use treated wood for anything. That’s just the way the rules are set up.

I use treated wood for any wood that touches the ground. The chemicals they use to treat wood these days are not as nasty as the ones they used to use, though they still kill insects. I look at it as dosage. They are not going to eat enough treated wood to harm themselves. There will not be enough of that chemical leach out onto the ground where they will eat it to cause harm. You are right, non-treated wood will rot or get termite-infested. It is an easy decision for me. It’s not all that unusual on here for people to create problems by trying to prevent a mythical problem that is highly unlikely to exist.

The other option is an expensive wood that resists rot, like fir or cedar heartwood. Cedar does give off fumes that can be harmful. That’s why in olden days a girl’s hope chest was made out of cedar. The fumes kept bugs from destroying her fabrics. But that is in a confined space, a box closely closed up. In an open area like a run, those fumes are not going to build up. I’d even use cedar lumber inside the coop as long as it was well-ventilated. Cedar wood shavings are a danger however. By shaving them real thin, they have a lot of surface area so they can give off a lot of fumes. So don’t use cedar shavings and avoid using cedar wood in unventilated areas.

 

[Denethor]

Ok great thank you! Does Cedar constitute organic?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

When you say you want to have "as organic an environment" as you can - are you wanting to be certified organic or are you just trying to avoid as much of the chemical side of things as possible?

 

[Denethor]

No I will not pursue Organic certification but i would like to be able to say that we use organic practices. I will eventually be zoned agricultural allowing me sell my eggs.