[4feathers]

Hiya everyone - it's been a while since I have posted a question here.

My question is... what does everyone recommend to sanitise the soil where my chickens spend nearly all of their day. It's not possible to move the chicken pen or coop and I would like to try and get rid of most of those subterranean nasties hiding away in the soil.

Have tried lime in the past but it's not practical keeping the girls of the large run for any length of time. There seems to be a few proprietary powders around, some seem more expensive than others but which is the best?

I would appreciate any help or advice. My ex-batts are my pride and joy - wouldn't like anything to happen to them.

Thanks everyone

[emmaellis]

My 3 chooks are in a fixed covered run with wood chippings and once every few weeks when they're in bed I sprinkle with Stalosan F and rake through. Keeps thing nice, fresh and free of nasties. I thing I paid about £17 for a big tub and it's lasting AGES.

I'm sure the more experienced will offer some more suggestions soon.

[Lindeggs]

Now this is just a suggestion as I realise I'm in a different situation than you (climate etc).  But have you considered working with the micro-organisms in your soil rather than against them?

Just like when you give antibiotics to humans, you kill off all the good bacteria along with the bad ones.  Then the bad ones can re-colonise and you're back where you started.  Soil is always going to have greeblies in it, so if you can encourage the good greeblies, they will protect the soil from the bad greeblies.

There are a few things you could do to help the good greeblies:
1) Aerate the soil (chop it up with a spade, rake it over, poke holes in it with a garden fork)
2) Add organic matter - especially from a healthy compost heap, but any leaves, chopped twigs etc will help.
3) Innoculate the soil with live organisms.  The micro-organisms used in Bokashi composting are great for that, but the liquid from a worm farm is also excellent.

These things are working for me to keep the smell down and keep everything 'sweet.'  It's a very low-maintenance way of looking after the run, and hopefully it will give long-term benefits.

[grumpydad]

stalosan f or virkon will keep on top of diseases that can be harmful.

[Raven81]

I am no expert but I also have a run that cannot be moved.  As Lindeggs suggested, I turn over the soil with a fork every day.  It only takes about five minutes and the hens love scratching in the new soil as it brings all the worms and other bugs to the top.
The soil underneath always seems to fresh, I keep expecting to find the waste from the day before but haven't done so yet.
I also find in this wet weather that the soil underneath seems to be pretty dry.

[Ben_H]

Hi,

Resurrecting this thread as of all the ones I have read following searching for "Stalosan F" this probably fits best. I'm thinking of using biodry in my plastic coop but not using it on the woodchip (see below)

What effect does Stalosan or biodry or other disinfectants have when you compost the bedding/woodchip after cleaning out? Does it have an"active life" after which it breaks down? I don't want to poison my compost heaps or spread it round the garedn or allotment.

Lindeggs - I like the idea of using natural processes to break down the waste. The digging over should work with woodchip as well but how deep a layer do people think I should need for this to work? If people with much greater experience than me feel this is a really bad idea then I can sprinkle it with something but the question regarding composting becomes even more pressing.

Cheers

Ben

[min200]

I have found wood chip to be very good.  The stuff I use is from the local tree surgeon and is chipped really small.  Sometimes I remove it from the run but more often than not they disappear into the ground completely!

I do dig a layer of soil out every now and then as well and this helps as well.

[Lindeggs]

I can't answer your questions about disinfectants and composting.  I wonder if you are best to contact the manufacturer and ask them directly?

As for the thickness of wood chips and/or other organic matter, I would suggest starting with 10 - 15cm deep, then gradually add more over time.  I have been surprised how quickly mine has broken down and just kind of disappeared into the soil (But mine had a lot of dry leaves and other lightweight stuff so I suppose it  breaks down faster).

I recently read an article about using the deep litter system in a shed, and the advice was to only clean it out when the chickens' heads started bumping on the rafters.    In other words, just keep on building it up and up - the thicker the layer of organic matter you have, the better your drainage and the more active the micro-organisms (assuming it's not getting compacted and staying wet).

I was just commenting to my OH the other day how lovely the chicken coop smells.    I never thought I would say that.  At the moment it smells like pine, molasses and freshly crushed grain.  The pine smell is because I have just thrown a few more handfuls of shavings under the perch, but the coop always smells fresh and pleasant.  No disinfectants required.

[Ben_H]

Deep litter sounds great but is really not appropriate for my coop as perches are not movable.

I'll drop a line to the manufacturers. Going to try and dig over part of the run this morning to see what happens.

Cheers