Paint/Stain fumes affect on chickens?

[Drew787]

How much, if any do you all think the fumes from paint and/or stain affect the health of chickens inside the coop? I just built my coop with treated pine and would like to add a coat of either paint or stain for extra protection from the weather. I wish I would have painted everything and let it dry before I even assembled it, but I guess i got in a bit of a hurry and hindsight is 20/20. I don't want to hurt my birds, any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Hokum Coco]

Just talking from personal experience here. I grew up with lead paint, paint fumes, DDT, no seat belts, no car seats, no bicycle helmets, riding in the back of pick ups, drinking from a garden hose, just a few of the things people would frown on or consider illegal today.

If one were to attack the population of North America today; One would just have to throw a ball of peanut butter, shell fish, tuna, and cat hair, and a few extra tid bits I missed and it would cause ¼ of Americans to go into epileptic shock.

Seems every thing we do to protect ourselves makes our society weaker as a whole from my stand point..

 

[Drew787]

Point taken! New to all this and don't want to make any dumb mistakes if I can help it.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I think you will find most paint and or stains on the market today are water based and or soluable and are not as dangerous to animals or plants as their counter parts of days gone by.

 

[Drew787]

Yeah, it sure seems like just about anything I'd want to use would be harmless. I had high doubts that there would be any issues, just wanted to make sure that there weren't any unknowns that haven't yet discovered with chickens and fumes. I appreciate your input though Hokum.

 

[3chickchicks]

If you're worried,use a latex paint. It's safe for pregnant ladies even.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I would just use latex and paint in the morning, so it has time to dry.

 

[aart]

If you used treated pine you probably don't need to paint it....if you really want to paint tho, I would make sure that the treated wood is very dry, that stuff is often pretty wet from the treatment when purchased new, especially in the summer. I always wait a year to paint or stain treated wood so it sticks well.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I have 63 trips around the sun. I just whitewash my chicken coop yearly (where needed lime and water mixed basically). It could be killing my birds (if so softly) as it did to my grandparents birds and their grand parents before them.

I garden and this year I used wood pellets for litter in my coop. It froze harder than concrete this winter (subject to -40ºF in Canada no heat or light in coop). My coop is the 4x8 foot print metal shed to the left.

It turned into sawdust this spring and has been the best bedding I have ever used (I mean to try sand at some point on this form it get rave reviews).

I have had basically sawdust in my coop it will be a year in October with no smell and the birds dust bathe in it daily. I know it will also make excellent compost when it comes time to replace it also.

 

[Drew787]

The treated pine is definitely pretty moist through and through, it has been baking in the sun for a while and appears to be dry but I'm positive there is still some moisture in there. I was also thinking in terms of appears and just trying to weigh my options. I'm thinking that some green roof panels my dad has laying around might work out nicely, as I don't exactly feel like painting anyways. I appreciate the tips about the sawdust Hokum! Looks like you have a nice place there. I'm using straw right no and it seems ok but the sawdust is definitely something I'd consider. Thanks for all the input everyone.