Pressure treated lumber in a chicken coop

[hikerchick]

A friend just took down a 12year old deck built from pressure treated lumber. He gave me the wood, which I was thinking I could use to build parts of my coop.Is there any reason that I should not use this lumber?

 

[Opa]

There will be absolutely no problem with using it. Any dangerous chemicals would have leeched out long ago.

 

[hikerchick]

Thanks, Opa. That's what I was hoping.

 

[dukecitychick]

hikerchick - not to be paranoid, but I would do some more research if you are serious about using the wood. I don't know a lot about pressure-treated lumber, but I remember about 15-20 years ago when my parents put in a deck, my mom wouldn't let me eat a sandwich if I dropped it on the deck! I think especially older pressure-treated is more likely to have really sketchy stuff in it (I have heard that they don't put arsenic in it any more). I hate to be a fear-monger without any real information for you, but when it comes to dangerous chemicals I would never assume, "Oh, it's probably fine."

That said, reusing materials is awesome and I hope you find evidence to convince yourself that it's safe to use the stuff. I'd be curious to know what you find out. Good luck building your coop either way!

 

[xtremevermonter]

Before my spring projects this year I looked into the subject and decided to use PT in my chicken coop but not in my raised garden beds. I think that constructing a coop from used and weathered PT should be fine.

A) Old PT already has leached most of its "Crud"
B) A Chicken coop has a roof and will not have tons of water washing chemicals out of the PT
C) The chickens will leave it alone
D) It will last much much longer than untreated wood

 

[hippichick]

We use it on the coops and runs all the time. No problems here.

Paula

 

[CalicoFarm]

That is all I have ever used on my coops, I've never had a problem.

 

[hikerchick]

You people are awesome. Thanks for all the replies.

Chicken people are as easy to get attached to as chickens, almost,

 

[Sillystunt]

your fine!!! And it's recycled! BONUS and FREE PRICELESS! besides the termites,they no likey that stuff!

SCORE

 

[al6517]

Their was for the longest time an active misinformation movement on the BYC about not using preasure treated wood. This was quickly dispelled once most were convinced that chickens don't eat wood. If you have a free source of good buildable PT wood use it, and feel comfortable in that choice.

AL