Inside coop...to paint or not to paint...

[MarlaMac]

Good morning form Central Texas. We are in the process of expanding our coup. We are adding a 12x6x6 walk in extension. I wasn't planning on painting anything inside except some window sills .

The coop will have about a 4 foot overhanging roof so rain shouldn't be an issue. I was planning on caulking the joints inside just to limit the hiding places any bugs might find. What are your thoughts on to paint or not to paint and why?

Thanks, in advance, for sharing your opinions.

 

[Saveria]

I think most people paint to seal the wood from moisture in the air. Probably not a problem in Texas, though .

We just used cedar wood to prevent rot since it is so wet here, mainly because we don't want to have to repaint things. There is always so many other things to do.

I think things look nice with paint, though. I'd think you would want low-VOC to no-VOC paint if the chickens are going to be near it. You know how sensitive their respiratory systems are.

 

[mowin]

Totally up to you. Realistically, the gals won't care. Both of mine are not painted.

 

[Colorado Chicken Keeper]

I think most people paint to seal the wood from moisture in the air. Probably not a problem in Texas, though .

We just used cedar wood to prevent rot since it is so wet here, mainly because we don't want to have to repaint things. There is always so many other things to do.

I think things look nice with paint, though. I'd think you would want low-VOC to no-VOC paint if the chickens are going to be near it. You know how sensitive their respiratory systems are.

Yikes! Cedar is poisonous to chickens!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Cedar is poisonous to chickens!

Not quite.

I have cedar chips in my chip mix (it would be literally impossible to get wood chips around here without cedar mixed in, as it's simply part of the environment) and I use aged chips in both coop and run. I feel very comfortable about using it in my set up. We have Western cedar which is lower aroma than Eastern red cedar (which is more aromatic and the type of cedar associated with hope chests and insect repellents).

I would probably avoid using all cedar shavings, or fresh cedar (well, fresh anything really... pine sap is awful!), or cedar in closed-in environments (i.e. indoor brooder, coop lacking in ventilation), especially if it's an aromatic variety of cedar. My coop is well over recommended ventilation plus has a high ceiling for added air volume.

Many coop builds have cedar and I don't think people ever consider that. My current coop has cedar trim, my old one (which is now a chick brooder) is 100% cedar.

Obviously if you're not comfortable with it, don't use it, but I've been mixing in cedar for the last few years and there's been no sign of respiratory issues in my flock.

 

[Saveria]

Yikes! Cedar is poisonous to chickens!

The wood we got had been milled a while before, and our coop was open air for the first summer and we never had any issue with it.

DE is also bad for chickens, but people use that all the time. I'll bet it all has to do with how much of the bad substance they are exposed to, and the overall health of the flock.

I don't use cedar shavings, but like rosemarythyme said, there probably is a little bit of it in the pine shavings I use, and that hasn't been a problem either. I think with proper ventilation lots of different things become non-issues.

 

[Saveria]

Yikes! Cedar is poisonous to chickens!

Welcome to BYC, BTW!