Using green treated lumber

[PoppiesChicks]

We are building our run and I'm wondering if we can use treated lumber or if the chickens will get sick from it.

 

[colonel sander]

I have seen a few runs that were made with it where they touch the ground. Also if posts are going into the ground yes use it. As for the coop portion I am not sure. I am planning on using reg doug fir that has been stained for the coop area and the run is cedar where it contacts the ground.

I know when making planter boxes for vegitable gardens they say DO NOT use PT so it might not be good for the chickens either.

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

None of todays treated lumber contains arsenic so its good to use for virtually anything.

 

[PoppiesChicks]

I thought cedar was toxic to chickens, at least cedar mulch. Does that matter when using cedar for the run?

 

[7L Farm]

You can use treated wood. If you don't it will rot.

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
Don't use cedar shavings use pine shavings. All my coops are made with cedar.

 

[Mervin]

Your chickens aren't goats or horses, they're not going to ingest the PT lumber. IMO...They're much more likely to pick up toxicity from the things you feed them and environmental elements. PT lumber has never seemed to affect mine.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
It is not going to make them sick, but it is not a good idea (for a whole variety of reasons) to use it for anything EXCEPT ground-contact (or a few other special circumstances where you expect chronically damp conditions).

So you would use it for run fenceposts, and if you have horizontal grade boards along the base of the run fence touching the ground, and things like that; but you would NOT want to use it for your walls, raised floor, roof, etc.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I don't use anything but treated lumber for building anything chicken related. I've yet to see a chicken gnaw on wood.

 

[patandchickens]

P/t lumber (the current ACQ stuff particularly!) is excessively heavy, splits and twists much worse over time than plain lumber, and eats metal for breakfast. The latter means that it will prematurely rust any fencewire that touches it (yes, even galvanized fencewire), and requires a better (and thus more expensive and often harder to find in less-common types of hardware) grade of galvanization on fasteners (or appropriately-coated deck screws, which is fine for deck screws but not available for anything else, or good stainless steel which is pretty 'ka-ching'!)

Thus it is kind of counterproductive to use when there is no NEED for it (i.e. in places that will not be chronically damp). Just plain outdoor wood lasts FINE if painted properly, there is zero point in using p/t simply b/c wood will be exposed to rain.

Pat