Treated Lumber

[NewEgger72]

We are in the midst of drawing up plans for a coop. We are looking at a 4 by 8 ft coop to house roughly 6 to 10 chickens. I am leaning toward 6 total. My husband is a sufferer of chicken math and already wants 15 even though he's never had a chicken in his life. My question...he wants to use treated lumber for the corner posts that will elevate the coop off of the ground and for the floor framing as well as the sheet of plywood for the actual floor. I have read that treated lumber is not good for the birds and that many of the chemicals can be absorbed and passed through to those tasty eggs. Of course we are starting up our little chicken adventure for the benefits of fresh eggs so I don't want to do anything that might cause my birds illness or my family. Am I crazy?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I use treated for the corners and uprights. You can always paint them to limit chemicals but IMHO, there are a lot of worse things in the environment as long as the whole thing isn't treated lumber.
Chicken math is contagious. You'll want 15 too when you get delicious fresh eggs in your backyard.
They'll take a winter break each year so you'll be glad you had more to hoard eggs for the lean times. It's a bummer to do all that work and still have to buy eggs.

 

[Spartan22]

2x chicken canoe! I used treated lumber for foundations, floor joist and tongue and groove floor boards (floor are covered w/ FRT boards for easy clean up, the frames for the run are all treated. Chicken have no direct contact with those wood as if my kids touching and licking treated wood in children playground. As for your husbands wanting 15 chicken, we thought we only wanted 6 but got 10, this spring we added 14 more. Mind you wife Was not sure about them to start with, now she's the one who wanted more chicken but of course I do all the cleaning and gardening and do all yard work, she only collect eggs LOL.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I wanted 6 but got 10 and in 3 months I had 100.
We had a 100 layer flock when I was growing up.

Now I have anywhere from 10-100. Now I have 21 hens, 4 roosters, 4 chicks and 84 eggs in the incubator.

 

[Spartan22]

I wanted 6 but got 10 and in 3 months I had 100.
We had a 100 layer flock when I was growing up.

Now I have anywhere from 10-100. Now I have 21 hens, 4 roosters, 4 chicks and 84 eggs in the incubator.

WHOA!!! Almost what we were thinking, were actually checking for bigger property 5-10 acres to build bigger coop and bigger free range area.