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Regarding the desire some people have expressed for plastic roosting bars (to facilitate cleaning and eliminate mites), has anyone tried painting the bars with the products used to rubberize tool handles? See, for example, Plasti Dip: http://www.plastidip.com/industrial/td/PlastiDip_UV.pdf.

 

I'm about to try this--so please let me know if this is a big mistake!

 

Thanks,

Brookside Roasters

 

(P.S. We roast coffee, not chickens.)

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A very interesting idea. :D I can't wait to hear how you get on with this. I would wonder if the chooks might get blisters (can chooks get blisters? :? ) from their feet rubbing on the rubber? Also, if it's quite a smelly product, it might be worth leaving it a few days before putting the bars back in the eglu as you won't want your chooks overcome with fumes. :D

 

Good luck with it!

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I did it, and here's the report:

 

I bought a second set of of roosting bars, and used Plasti-Dip to coat them. Plasti-Dip is a rubberizing sort of paint (commonly used to coat tool handles), and I used 4-5 coats to get a reasonably thick coating. I thinned it a bit with naphtha, to make brushing on a little easier. Plasti-Dip dries quickly, only about 30 minutes required between coats. I then waited a week before putting them into the eglu, to be sure that all the fumes were gone.

 

The good news is that the bars are much, much easier to clean. They clean up perfectly with just water and very little scrubbing with a plastic scrubbing pad. Moreover, it is clear that nothing is being absorbed into and therefore permanently staining the bars. We've been cleaning the bars about once a week or so, but even on a daily basis the poop seems to drop off the rubberized bars (and into the paper-lined tray below) much more easily than it did with the bare wood bars.

 

We've had no complaints from our four ladies, who continue to reward us with 3-4 eggs a day!

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Sounds good! Do you end up with quite a thin layer of rubber then? My image of rubber is of it being quite thick, and I'd have been worried about the bars no longer fitting! And is it see-through, if the poos aren't staining the bars - or is it the rubber thats not getting stained? :?

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I'm going to look into doing something similar. I've just ordered an eglu to replace my wooden chicken house and run because I have had such problems with red mites. But I am worried that there may still be a problem as the roosting bars are wooden.

 

Thanks for telling us about this - and yellow sounds funky :D

 

 

Melanie

 

(Waiting for a green eglu)

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Do you remember who it was made by Claire? - I spent a fruitless Sunday morning looking for some :?:roll:

 

The red step paint I bought was by Norver paints, and the non slip coating was in the same sized tin. The tins are half height ones, they do a whole range of utility type paints for different things. Look in your local cheap shop, not necessarily chainstore pound shop.

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