is paint ok?

[kristip]

With the coop I was going to paint the outside of the coop only. But the run, my DH suggested painting the wood beams/studs we are using to help them last longer with weathering... can I paint them or only on the outside and top of run?

thanks

 

[justbugged]

You should be fine with painting. The birds might pick at it some, but I doubt that the can eat enough paint to make a difference. Of course if you are in the camp with everything must be ultra natural then this advice will never work. Most paint these days are plastic based. So while I don't want them to eat a lot of it, I have seen to evidence that it harmful to them or us. I wouldn't use really old paint for fear of lead content. It would be very difficult to get or find paint that old that would still be usable. Chickens that are well fed are just not going to spend a lot of time picking at paint either.

 

[elmo]

Chickens don't chew on wood the way parrots do. Just make sure you do a nice smooth paint job without any big gloppy drips that might catch the eye of a curious chicken. And make sure the paint is completely dry and there is no lingering paint smell before letting your chickens back in the coop/run. Paint fumes are potentialy hazardous to birds.