Do you paint your roosts?

[cicene mete]

I am thinking about painting our roosts to make them easier to clean. Do you paint yours? If so, what kind of paint should I use? I want something without a lot of toxins that will be very easy to clean.

Thanks!

 

[patandchickens]

Actually IMO paint does not add any real benefit, and indeed could make it *more difficult* to clean, because you'd be worrying about not damaging the paint

I find that a reasonably smooth crack-free roost (such as a 2x4 or de-barked dead tree branch in good condition) scrapes clean pretty well, when needed. If it needs occasional more intensive work, or spot cleaning, a damp rag or sandpaper does the job just fine.

I don't honestly get much poo on my roosts, tho, and when there is, it's usually just a little blop that you can just knock off without a mess. The only things that need scraping, for me, are the fairly rare cecal-poo-that-happens-to-splort-onto-the-roost.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[wannabe_goatmom]

My roosts are not painted. My husband made me a really cool scraper out of an old broom handle and an old plastic putty knife. It works great, my chickens are only 7 weeks old so they still poo on the roosts sometimes. I'm hoping as they get older they will hang over and not get so much on the roosts.

 

[Amethyste]

My roosts are not painted. However, they ARE covered with linolium for ease of cleaning. Birds arent bothered, and the poop cleans a bit easier off them.

Looking back tho, I should have covered the whole roost in lino

They like to sit on the supporting beams and I am constatly scraping and cleaning them.

Here you can see what I mean kind of... my husband has removeable 2x4's that he made into roosts, and we covered them with the lino. But the way he has them bracketed in, some like to sleep on the bare wood part, and that gets a little icky at times. When we get a new coop next year, we wil be making changes to the roosts...that is one change there lol

 

[mdbokc]

I use flat 2 x 4s. Since I powder them with DE, there is no build up that can't be knocked onto the dropping board with a light touch.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I never have to clean my roosts. They seem to wear it off by climbing up and down the ladder or moving on the roosting boards. The sawhorses I use do get some on them but I just tip them over and it usually falls off if it is dry.
The sawhorses are painted but the roosting boards aren't except for one and I can't tell it makes any difference.

 

[CityChook]

I sanded my roost smooth and rounded off the corners. Instead of paint, I give mine a good coating once a year with a mix of mineral spirits/linseed oil. The oil gives a bit of moisture to the wood, coats it in a waterproof barrier (so any big poos can just be flicked off with a dust pan) and gives the underside of the roost an inhospitable environment for any mites that think they want to make a hotel out of my chickens. The mineral spirits helps the oil absorb into the wood and then it dries and evaporates. Truth is, I've never cleaned my roost. I have, however, scraped off any big poos so they don't lay/stomp through them.

 

[wildorchid053]

we use a 2x4 and no paint.. i use a car snow ice scraper to get the poo off.. works great

 

[DragonFeathers]

I have 2x4's on the flats that are painted with white outdoor latex(sp) paint, they poop on it, walk it in and I take a putty knife to it to clean it off, I should have painted it camo

 

[jafo]

We use 2x3 roosts set at a 45 deg angle or so. I allowed 12 inches between each bird, and 8 inches off the wall so's not to ruffle thier tail feathers. No paint, and because there's a 16 inch difference in the "drop points" there's no surprises on the roosts, almost ever.