Kilz paint for Coops

[Rosidancer]

I am a brand new and extremely proud owner of a small coop, It is unpainted wood . I am raising the coop up with cinder blocks to help with air flow ,we do get wet here at times. and it gets HOT! I am protecting the floor from critter invasion, it is a thin floor with a removable tray for cleaning, I am going to put hardware cloth under the coop on top of the cinder blocks Their yard is 30' x 30' with an oak tree for shade. I will also be attaching a run for them, in case I am going to be gone for the day. So far so good. But of course, I have questions.
1. Is it safe to use Kilz 2 as an exterior primer? We have wet and hot weather here. I will have to paint the coop. Only on the outside.
2. Do I want to paint the inside? No? good.
3. I am a nut about safe and organic, any suggestions on getting good organic food for my darlings when I get them or making my own?
Thanks yall, so very much. Wish me luck!

 

[featherbaby]

I'm in N. Florida and it's hot and damp here too. I used pressure treated lumber which I did not want the chickens to ingest (they treat it with arsenic I believe). I primed my coop inside and out with Kilz and painted it inside and out with gloss exterior paint. If you ever want to be able to clean poop off the inside walls of the coop, you really should paint it. Mine cleans very well because of the gloss paint and I'm SOOOOO glad I put it on. I have one delinquent Silkie that poops on the wall every day! She has NO manners what so ever! I think it's a challenge to see just how high she can throw it each time! HA!

We'd love to see pictures when you get finished!

 

[patandchickens]

If I recall correctly (but you should check) Kilz bills itself as being ok for exterior use, in which case go right ahead. There are no chicken-safety issues involved, assuming you let all paint dry thoroughly to the point where there's no fumes before you let chickens back in.

Painting the inside of the coop is not *necessary* as such, but is highly desirable IMHO because it makes it EVER so much easier to clean. The chickens WILL get poo on the walls (sometimes in places that will really leave you scratching your head), especially the splorty liquid cecal poos -- and that is MUCH MUCH easier to get offa the walls if they've been painted (or polyurethaned or whatever) than if they are nekkid wood.

If you want to feed them organic commercial feed you will just have to ask around and see what's available through your local feedstores, as that will be the deciding factor. Or you can see if organic grains are available (again, ask around) and mix your own -- this works best if the chickens are extensively free-ranging because otherwise they will likely be a bit protein deficient unless you add fish meal or soy to the feed, and organic soy is *real* hard to find.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[TcherDawn]

We used Kilz on the inside of our coop for the reason Pat said. Any exposed wood that got poo on it stained and stinks. I had to remove my unpainted roosts and pressure wash the yuck off them, but the walls wiped clean easily because of the paint on them. Also, if we ever had any moisture(which we have not) Kilz is supposed to be great for preventing mold on it. Go for the paint while you are in the building mood. You will be happier later when the cleaning comes into play.

 

[Cargo]

Kilz II is a fine primer. But remember you also want to paint over the primer with a Gloss or Semi-Gloss Exterior Paint. Primer is essentially glue so if you leave it unpainted everything will stick to it and you will have yucky unclean-able walls in no time.

 

[patandchickens]

I dunno bout that. AFAIK primer is just paint with more of the agent that bonds to the surface you put it on and less of the pigment and protective agents. The inside of my horse stalls are 'painted' with just primer... simply because I never actually got around to painting over it LOL... and it's actually pretty easy to clean stuff off of. The main disadvantage is just that it's essentially sort of an eggshell type finish rather than semigloss which is what I'd use if I were to actually *paint*. But, truly I have not had any problem cleaning stuff off the primer. It's been that way for, oh, 7 years now and I don't seem likely to ever get around to actually painting it

Mind you that's horse poo and other assorted horse-barn crud, not splorty cecal poos from chickens... but still, I do not think that it would be the end of the world to only prime. (Particularly for indoors. I don't think just primer would last especially well outdoors, though I coudl be wrong).

Actual painting, ideally with semigloss, is still *better* of course

Pat

 

[Royd]

Quote:
Not anymore. Sadly, copper arsenate, which actually works, has gone the way of asbestos siding. The poor kids, in the playgrounds, just might take to chewing on the furniture.

 

[Rosidancer]

Thanks Yall. I will paint the inside too, and I got hardware wire to go underneath the coop today. I think it will be fine. I am really glad I got a coop where the wall removes and the floor removes to help clean it.