Using Wood

[Thomas Munger]

Hey all, I am waiting for my village to finish with a chicken ordinance, in the mean time I am designing my backyard chicken area, my question is for the posts can you use treated lumber? Not sure if that would be toxic to my future chicken stock.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hey all, I am waiting for my village to finish with a chicken ordinance, in the mean time I am designing my backyard chicken area, my question is for the posts can you use treated lumber? Not sure if that would be toxic to my future chicken stock.

If they eat the post ---it might be! Sure you going to get some that will say never put a treated post within 1000ft(+/-) of your chickens, garden, etc. I use treated post where ever I want and have Never seen a problem----even got some pens/stalls built out of sawed creosote electric posts----That's gotta be worse??? In 50 years I have Never seen a Problem.

 

[FlyWheel]

best solution I have ever found to prevent buried wood from rotting was to coat the part that will be underground with asphalt. Roofing tar will work, and my birds don't even look at it, let alone try and eat it. But if you're really concerned about accidental poisoning I've heard many folk use something called "Blackjack" on their coop floors with no ill effect. Either will preserve the wood for years, even buried underground.

 

[lazy gardener]

Personally, I would not use PT wood. But, I choose a natural approach with most things. Pull poison ivy by hand, and will not use Round Up on my property. In a room full of people, you will find some who would use PT, and a few who would not. Your choice. Do your homework, and make an informed decision.

 

[Thomas Munger]

Personally, I would not use PT wood. But, I choose a natural approach with most things. Pull poison ivy by hand, and will not use Round Up on my property. In a room full of people, you will find some who would use PT, and a few who would not. Your choice. Do your homework, and make an informed decision.

Thank you, I just want happy, healthy chickens,,, happy chickens produce good eggs

 

[RonC]

I'll be that guy. If it comes in contact with the ground use PT. Otherwise I'd stay away although it is much safer now than in years past. The legs on mine are not but they sit on concrete paving stones to keep it off the ground.

 

[FlyWheel]

Pressure Treating was my first attempt at fence posts that wouldn't decay in a couple of years. I've found that even PT wood will still rot if left un-coated, although it may take a bit longer. And these were stuck in concrete and in arid southern California. The asphalt trick has given me posts that were still whole even after a decade underground.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Pressure Treating was my first attempt at fence posts that wouldn't rot. I've found that PT wood will still rot if left un-coated, although it may take a bit longer. And these were stuck in concrete and in arid southern California.

Some pressure treated stuff/lumber is NOT direct contact, some is----If you put Non-direct contact in the ground---it will last longer than un-treated but it will rot.

 

[Howard E]

I would consider the modern stuff to be safe for birds. To avoid rot and to make them last, buy posts rated for "ground contact". You can find them at TSC and similar places. Tag on the end must say rated for "ground contact". For above ground, use PT wood with label "MCA", which stands for "micronized copper azole". So basically microscopic copper dust and azole is a fungicide to prevent rot. I used it on my Woods house.

The old PT wood was CCA, which was "chromium copper arsenate", or arsenic, a poison. Maybe not use that for your birds? Hard to find anyway unless you are in the trades that are allowed to purchase it for a handful of allowed uses. Some farm supply stores may have those, so do look at them.