What About Termites?

[Menmyrc]

We will be starting the coop this weekend. Our property has a lot of subterranean termites - if you leave a board on the ground you will soon see termite evidence. I want to go with a deep litter coop, with the litter on bare ground. I would imagine the chicks will eat any termites that venture into the litter. My question is, how do I build the walls so the wood isn't directly on the ground, and still have structure to contain the litter? I was thinking pier blocks with hardware cloth covering the space, but DH isn't sold on that. He would prefer the siding to be closer to the ground than the pier blocks will allow. Any suggestions? We are building a 3-sided coop, at this point the plan is 12' x 12'.

 

[la dee da]

Would pressure treated or ceder wood for the ground area work or do they eat those too?

 

[sattoritx]

Numerous codes used throughout the United States clearly state that "pressure-treated and naturally resistant wood, such as heartwood or redwood and eastern red cedar, shall be considered as being termite resistant."

The key word is "resistant". They don't say impervious!

Termites will eat pressure-treated lumber if there is NOTHING else available close by. If it gets damp enough for long enough it will rot.

We are using Pressure treated (ground contact ok) 4x4's for the coop posts (greenish colored yellow pine), but I am toying with the idea of building the rest of the run using metal conduit...

Keeping the wood from getting damp would be key, and sealing it once a year with a wood deck sealer may help, just remember not to paint PT wood in its first year cause it needs to dry out from the chemicals and paint often times wont adhere properly.

good Luck!

here's the site I stumbled across that gave me the idea for using conduit for the run. I plan to build mine more like a dog kennel panels and sink the panels in the ground 6"
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/10/fall-project-building-mini-hoop-houses.html

 

[tammyd57]

Dig a small trench where the walls are going to be, set in concrete blocks and install the coop on top of those. This will keep the wood from coming in contact with the soil and you can have the walls as close to the ground as you want with no spaces to cover with wire. We have termites here too and this works great and isn't very expensive either.

 

[la dee da]

Quote:
Wow I didn't know that

 

[sattoritx]

Quote:
Wow I didn't know that

Hubbies a contractor I've learned a lot, he goes back about a year later and does his painting. Which makes for great return business cause they usually have something else for him to build or remodel by then.

 

[sattoritx]

http://www.ehow.com/how_4829589_paint-treated-wood.html

Here it explains it better and says 1 season, if the wood drys out too fast it can cause warping so there is a preservative for that too.

 

[Menmyrc]

Thanks for the ideas. We don't build very much out of wood in AZ - fences are all concrete block, house foundations are slab, homes are stucco, I've never seen a wood deck here, etc. I forgot about redwood and cedar, but that is what we built fences out of in CA. And thank you for the tip about painting PT wood. I never knew that!

 

[sattoritx]

My husbands from sedona so yeah I know the AZ construction well, lol
They had a hay bale coop on austins funky chicken coop tour.
Maybe something more like that?
I would love to build a hay bale home they just havent taken off too much around here.

 

[Menmyrc]

Yep - our plan for our property is a "green" homestead with chickens, goats, lambs, fruits/vegetables for ourselves, our friends and family, and hopefully to sell enough to make up some of our costs. We figure "egg money" will not be a profit, but will go a long way to help pay for feed, etc. And...a straw bale home is in the plans, along with solar and wind power.