Railroad Ties

[Knittycat]

Do chickens tend to peck at the wood of their coop? I'm planning on using railroad ties as the seal around the bottom of my coop and run, but I'm worried that if they try to eat the wood the creosote that railroad ties are soaked in might harm them.

 

[dkosh]

I have noticed that mine like to peck at the walls sometimes but they don't eat the wood. I also have power lines through our farm and the poles are full of the creosol. They don't bother with them at all. I would think it would be fine.

 

[Knittycat]

Good to know.

Thanks for the fast reply! Railroad ties are less half the price used than they are new.

 

[mestaske]

I don't think that they would. I plan on making a small flower bed out of rr ties right along the outside of my run. I'm going to do the same thing as you except out of old pine from the old corrals, I don't think the rr ties will be a problem though.

 

[Cargo]

We have a store here selling #2 Railroad ties for 8 bucks.
I would buy a bunch but, I hate moving those things

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I doubt that it will bother them. Our farm has a number of fence lines with railroad ties used as fence posts. Have you ever handled these before? Creosote is nasty stuff. Wear gloves and a long sleeved shirt and don't get it on your skin. It will burn your skin and eat a hole in you. I used to handle utility poles working as a power linesman and I've had some nasty burns.

 

[Knittycat]

Thanks for the warning Mac! I'm planning on ripping them lengthwise, perhaps it would be wiser to see if the lumber yard would do it for me.

 

[Cargo]

Oh yeah that would destroy your equipment very fast.

 

[paisleycj]

I'd be real careful ripping railroad ties. You never know what's buried in the middle of those. Plan on going through a couple saw blades, that's for sure. My husband used a chain saw to cut ours when we wanted them cut.
I used railroad ties as the bottom of my run fence for years and never had any trouble. I also used a tie inside as the base of a division between two pens. The chickens never bothered it to any extent. Good luck to you!

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[jenesis536]

I put some old ones we got on CL for free around the base outside of my pen... the girls walk all over it all the time but just to get to the other side. They don't peck at it though.

They are so heavy I wouldn't want to cut through them.