Rust??

[P0U1TRYP3RS0N]

I brood my chicks in metal horse troughs, and today while hosing one out and preparing it for use this spring, I noticed a red, crusty film covering the bottom of the tub....Rust. So my question is can rust hurt chickens? If they scratch it up or cut themselves and step on it? I know we get tetanis (spelling??) shots if we get an open cut and then come into contact with rust, but what about chickens?? I really don't wanna have to throw this trough out, but I don't want my chicks getting sick and dying, either.

 

[speedabug]

I would get rid of it just to be on the safe side.

 

[patandchickens]

Rust doesn't give you tetanus, so you can relax about that

(You may be thinking about the stereotypical 'getting tetanus from stepping on a rusty nail' scenario, but the rustiness of the nail or lack thereof has nothing whatsoever to do with getting tetanus -- tetanus is caused by a bacterium that grows in conditions that lack oxygen, such as the puncture wound you get from stepping on a nail)

I would seriously doubt that the rust (which is just iron oxide) itself would hurt chicks, although that is a guess/assumption rather than Documented Fact. However, I'd worry that there might be rusty *rough* spots that could damage their feet if they scratched down thru the bedding in the wrong place.

If it were me, I would not get rid of the trough, but I would sand it down (wear a dust mask, rust dust isn't great for your lungs) then paint it with a couple of coats of either rustoleum or epoxy paint. The epoxy paint is more expensive, and you NEED TO wear a fume type respirator mask, but it will last a lot longer than the rustoleum in damp conditions. OTOH if you only ever use the trough for brooding, and store it in a dry place between batches, rustoleum is probably sufficient.

Good luck,

Pat, who spent many a day in grad school painting the insides of metal stock tanks with epoxy paint for her dissertation research

 

[DuckLady]

Duplicate thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=45679

From the rules

6. No Spam. Spamming is posting the same thing several times. "Bumping" (posting to move a thread up on the forum list) and cross-posting (posting the same thread in several forums) are examples of spam.​