What color to paint inside of coop?

[gabbyscritters]

OK, I am asking this question for my 8 year old Gabby. We are finishing up her new insulated addition onto her coop.
Her question is, What color paint is best to make her hens happy and put them in a good egg mood?

 

[gsim]

My rule would be don't waste your time unless you have a finished interior wall. Seeing as how you do, whatever light color that is cheapest/on sale/oops at wherever, like at Ace hdw or Lowe's or Home Depot. I would want gloss since it would be easier to wash if you ever wanted to do so. I would not care if it was oil base or latex. Lightest is the way to go, making the interior of the coop lighter is always a plus, and makes whatever light you do have more effective.

 

[teach1rusl]

Ditto on all accounts!! Bright and glossy to enhance light and make it easier to clean...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I really don't think color matters that much. I'd be happy with a slightly darker color as it may tend to calm them a bit compared to a real bright color. What I would do is take Gabby to Lowe's (since it is closer for me) and let her pick out any color she wants from the "Oops" bin. I personally would not bother with a primer. If it is washable that is better, but again, whatever makes Gabby happy.

 

[CityChook]

Sorry, primer is a must. It's cold here, and if you don't prime first, that paint will likely peel up in the spring. If you choose not to prime, then I'd just choose not to paint at all.

When painting wood that's exposed to outdoor temperatures, I like to use oil based kilz primer - it will seal the wood well, hold up to cold temperatures, and will hide any knots in the wood (that will bleed through your paint in a nasty brown spot after it dries). You can then use latex (easier to clean up) exterior paint for the color choice. Yes, I said exterior. It gets cold here and interior paint is not formulated to get down to our low temperatures. Interior paint will hold up in the short run, but will need to be redone sooner. I definitely agree to use the "oops" bin - plenty of good choices there if you want to save some dough. Go with a semi-gloss or gloss for washability. I'm not sure if there's a certain color that chickens seem to like more. But lighter colors will brighten up the inside of your coop, extending any sunshine that you get from windows. I'm with the other posters -- go with a color that makes GABBY happy. If a bright color is on the wish list, paint one wall with that one. I have ice blue walls and one wall, by their roost, is brown. I like it alot.

 

[dftkarin]

I used Kilz exterior latex semi-gloss and it is pretty scrubb-able, I didn't need to prime first, and I had my choice of a zillion colors. It was almost $30/gallon but I used the same color inside and out - and I like it. If I had a cheap light-colored semi-gloss or high gloss, I would probably have used a lighter color for the interior, but the blue is nice too. At least I have a big window to let in light.

 

[patandchickens]

I wouldn't skip priming; if I was going to skip something it'd be *painting* (that is, I would just prime and not paint). A peely coat of paint, which is what you generally get outdoors if you neglect priming, is a giant big pain in the butt, unless you are some sort of masochist who *likes* scraping and sanding.

IMO the best thing to do is to prime and then use a coat of white or light-colored semigloss exterior paint. Ideally cheap mistints or remnants. Semigloss because it is less work to paint over than gloss (you really *have* to scuff gloss with sandpaper if you want another coat to stick, whereas semigloss requires little sanding and if you skip it it's usually sort of ok). And light-colored because it maximizes effective daylength and also makes it much easier to see what you're doing in there when cleaning etc. The only time I would think that a dark-colored interior would be desirable would be if you have built a coop that is extremely brightly illuminated *and* the chickens are rather crowded -- then, I could certainly see value in a darker color. Otherwise, white or pastels do not seem to cause any problems to the chickens and they certainly make life easier.

Latex has an advantage over oil-based if you have to get chickens back into the coop soon; although if you are building/painting the coop in advance of even GETTING chickens, oil-based may be mildly preferable.

If one is not motivated to paint the whole interior, IMO it is strongly worth doing at least the floor and the wall(s) nearest the roost. The bottom 2' of the other walls too, if you have paint left over. Squirty cecal poo is MUCH easier to get off a painted surface than off bare plywood or osb

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[hilandfrog]

I did a Bright Yellow for the ceiling nice cheery color dor the long winter to come, also makes the light bright.

POOP color for the walls and floor, it sure makes scraping a bit easier, and "it" dosen't show up as much when I'm lazy.


Repo

 

[canada-goose]

You could do pink.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Ask your chickens what their favorite color is. Better yet go to the paint store & get color samples of various colors. Spread them on the ground & let the chickens pick.(or peck their favorite color). I bet 8 y.o. Gabby would LOVE this.