[debih]

We have now had our chickens almost a month and I am wanting to give them a good clean out this weekend.

The coop has a removable tray at the bottom and I have lined it with newspaper.  A couple of times a week I have been changing the paper and the straw in the nest boxes (or rather not in the nest boxes as they dash into their house the minute I have renewed it to move it all onto the floor of the coop).

But I want to give it a monthly clean (is monthly often enough) and give everything a scrub.  I know that I have to go and buy a scrubbing brush and will need a bucket of water but do I need to use any particular product to clean it. 

I am hoping to chose a nice sunny day to do it so that I can leave the nest box lid open to dry that area out and open the back and front door to dry that out (I might even get hubby to take half the roof off so that I can get to it easier) and I want to leave the tray and the perches out in the sun to dry too.  But what happens if it is not a particularly sunny day and so it will not dry quickly?

[Beano]

I think monthly is a bit over the top personally. I suppose it depends on the number of chickens you have but if it looks clean I would not scrub just yet. Dont get me wrong, it does need doing every now and again but perhaps every three months o so depending on how mucky it looks. As long as you squirt plenty of mite powder or DE powder into all the crevices and into their bedding you should be ok. I keep on top of poo picking every day and once a week I change their nest and floor covering, which is a good thickness of wood shavings on a removable lino.
When I do give ours a clean I use jeyes fluid and make sure it's a sunny day with plenty of ventilation. I can make sure that everything is bone dry by the evening when I do it on a sunny day. Then i squirt plenty of DE powder in every joint and crevice.
Hope that helps.

[debih]

Thanks for that.  Am quite relieved that it isn't going to be a monthly job.   

It is a brand new coop so I will leave it now until June time and just continue to clean it out every three days or so and pick any piles of poo out daily.

[Beano]

Yes that should be fine, just keep an eye open for any creepy crawlies and use the powder every time you clean it out every three days or so.

[hillfooter]

Well if you poo pick each day you should only need to do on a monthly basis a sweep out of the old litter thoroughly and scrape the perches and any soild fittings.  Spray with a disinfectant (I use Vanodine V18 recommended for chickens and pigeons), reapply DE slurry (made from a dilute disinfectant base by adding DE and stirring to a creamy consistancy and a dash of washing up liquid to wet) as a paint to all perch surfaces and corners of nest boxes and the house interior where it needs touching up. 

Every 6 months do a deep clean by additionally washing out with detergent (cheap washing up liquid is fine) and re-applying the DE slurry paint completely.  Allow to dry as best you can before e re-introducing the birds.  Renew litter at each clean obviously.

By painting the DE as a slurry you cut down dust in the confines of the house which is vitally essential to avoid irritating the birds respiratory systems and reducing dust bourne viruses (a single dust particle can transport hundreds of viruses); you ensure it sticks to the key surfaces; and it stops dropping sticking to perches making them easier to scrape clean without washing, it's also very drying.  Don't bother with dusting mite powder especially the Barrier stuff which is just nice smelling talc which has little or no effect on controlling mite or lice and costs plenty if used as directed.

Do this and your coop will be clean and sanitary and if you can arrange perch roosts so the droppings fall though the roosting bars onto a litter covered area which the birds can't pick about in you will cut down worm infestation and have a very good healthy house.

HF

[themagicaltoad1]

Hi, I've had my hens for 2 years now and confess I've NEVER scrubbed my coop. I poo pick daily and check for any nasties, give it a thorough sweep out once a month and so far haven't had any problems. It's a wooden coop, and I use dust free shavings, I gave up on the straw in the nest box as they kick it out anyway.

[avilla]

whats DE

[hillfooter]

whats DE

Sorry avilla thought it hd been mentioned earlier in the thread, it's Diatomaceous Earth to give its generic name but Hemexen or Diatom are product names sometimes used.  It's a mineral composed of the fossilised skeletons of microscopic plants (algae) and it looks like a fine off white powder.  It's very absorbant and abrasive and red mite RM don't like it as it dehydrates them so they won't usually colonise it for their breeding sites which is what makes it useful for RM control.  Being a natural mineral it's assumed to be safe at least chemically though there are concerns about breathing the dust.  The issues surrounding asbestos mean you should treat this material with respect as it's use is in its infancy as a natural innsecticide.  This is why I prefer to use it in a painted on slurry as I don't want to expose either myself or my chx to unneccessary dust.  Trials indicate used in this way it's still an effective control for RM.   For me the less dust the better in the confines of a poorly ventillated space like a house. and that goes for any dusting powders.

HF