Melamine?

[MojoWorkin]

I was at home depot last night getting ideas for my future chicken coop, and I saw melamine coated plywood. Now that seems like it would be easy to clean, bright and nice for the inside of a coop. Anyone use it? How do you like it?

Any potential downside? Thanks!

 

[Chicken Woman]

I am not sure but i know if melamine is eaten it is toxic. Don't know if the chickens would be able to eat on it or not. Melamine is what is killing children in China as it is in the milk ! i have also heard of some problems with melamine in dog and cat food.

 

[MojoWorkin]

OOoh that doesn't sound good.

 

[HennysMom]

I'd be afraid my chickens would peck at it...and ingest it.

I dont use anything that contains melamie knowingly. No plastic "kiddie plates, cups" etc. Any cooking items I use are either stainless or glass as well. With the entire dog food/cat food and now all the melamie in the food/eggs thing - no...I wouldnt risk it, but thats JMO.

Others may have it in their coops and do just fine.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Was it plywood you saw or MDF? MDF is a fine grained particleboard that is for interior use only. It wont stand up to getting wet. Melamine coated MDF is the same stuff that the cheap assemble-it-yourself Wal-Mart furniture is made of. It is particle board with a plastic (melamine) wood grain or colored finsih.

It may have been a cabinet grade plywood finished white for use in cabinets. The melamine coated products are typically expensive, usually $40 a sheet or more. You can get a good exterior sheathing like T1-11 siding for cheaper.

While this is the same type of stuff that has been reported in the news, in this form it is not a problem. It's like the difference between drinking paint and worrying about paint on your walls.

 

[CarlaRiggs]

The melamine additive was put into milk products which had been watered down. When the adulterated milk is tested, the melamine makes the milk appear as if it had more protein than it does.
The melamine used in furniture won't hurt the chickens because it's not being used for food.

 

[FrChuckW]

Okay, I have used it before in building my breeding cages for my Budgies, which are notorious for being chewers of wood. They did not chew on it and it made their cages a heck of lot easier to clean.

The chickens would be more inclined to peck at something like particle board, type paneling because they will work at a spot until they get a piece loose and then go from there.

However, for a coop I would use the type of paneling that they use for bathrooms, water resistant, and easier to clean and sanitize, also if you use it make sure that all spots where the pieces meet are sealed with both silicone sealant and those strips that they make to hid seams in paneling.

If you want to see how someone built their son a birdroom from the ground up go to JavaFinch.com. He used the melamine panels in his inside flights,etc.

I know when I build the new coop in the srping it is what I am going to use on the inside.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Why? It's a chicken coop. They don't mess on the walls and the floor is covered with litter. The birds really don't care.

 

[patandchickens]

Melamine (in solid-plastic form) has been used for cooking and eating vessels for many, many decades without any hint of health problems. A bunch of people here besides me must've grown up with melamine salad bowls and mixing bowls - they're very 1960s

So when it is bound up in a solid chunk o' plastic, with whatever resins and so forth they use, it is not a problem in the way that pure melamine *powder* added to feeds is a problem.

I am reasonably paranoid about things and would not hesitate for one millisecond to use melamine-coated shelves or whatnot in my coop.

Mac in abilene, fwiw my birds *do* mess on the walls somewhat and *do* sometimes push the litter aside to get poo directly on the floor (plus which there are some power-washing fiends on this forum, though absolutely not me

) -- I think there can be some benefits of a plasticky as opposed to plywoody inside for the coop, in some situations.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[kinnip]

My birds get poo on the walls and yesterday I even found some on the outside of the coop door. It must've been one helluva party!