[GerryOB]

We got our girls on Wednesday 7th July, and initially, in the absence of any newspaper to hand, we covered the paving slabs beneath their cage with flattened out cereal boxes to aid cleaning, then sprinkled dust extracted wood shavings on top and a few handfuls of straw scattered about.  In the bed area, I again put flattened cereal packets with wood shavings over and a bit of straw (not much) and in the nest boxes, again flattened cereal boxes, then straw on top (more than in the bed area) but no wood shavings.

By Friday evening, there was ripped up cereal boxes all over the run and a fair bit of poo, so once they were in bed, we cleaned the run area out, laying newspaper this time, with wood shavings on top.  Well I don't know if they wanted to read the front page, but the paper didn't last 5 mins once they came out yesterday morning, and the whole run was a mass of ripped up soggy/pooey newspaper by the evening, so we shook off the woodshavings and took the majority of the paper out, leaving the shavings on top of the paving slabs.  I think in future, it will just be easier to sweep up off the paving slabs directly, disinfecting and leaving to dry before putting down new shavings.

In the bed area, they didn't destroy either the cereal boxes or newspaper, and it was easy enough just to take everything out and replace.  However I noticed that Nugget (my ranger) seems intent on sleeping and pooing in one of the nest boxes.  She is frequently nipping in and out of there, checking out the boxes and I think she could possibly be coming up to starting to lay, and checking out the facilities, allbeit that she sleeps in one of them at night, so maybe 'staking her claim'. 

However....something has me curious.  The chap we got the girls from gave us a bag of straw to start us off.  Quite thick and spikey and harsh as you would expect.  I went to pets at home and bought a bag of straw, but it's different, and although more coarse than the hay I buy for our guinea pig, it's nowhere near as 'twiggy' and spikey as the straw given to us by the chap we got the birds from.  Nugget tends to favour the nest box with the straw from Pets at Home, rather than the straw from the chook breeder.  The reason they are different is that she was pooing in the box she was sleeping in, so I changed it so one box had the new and the other had the old (if that makes sense).  Now, I've mixed the new with the old so there is some of each in each compartment.

Anyhow...Today, their run has again got a fair bit of poo in it, and I'm tempted to clean it out again.  Is this usual to be cleaning them out every other day?  I don't want them smelling, or having to be up to their ankles treading in poo, but nor do I want to be cleaning them every other day if I can help it.  Many of the breeders we saw had them in runs just on the ground, and in some of the bigger places, there was so much poo and so many flies I found it unbearable to look, as their feet were covered in it.  I know I can't be there wiping their little tootsies for them all day, and maybe I am a bit of a clean freak, constantly sweeping up the sawdust they spill out of the run when they flutter about, but how often on average should the run need cleaning out?  Is it ok to leave them with so much poo on the floor?

Once our garden is done, I really think I'd like to build a full height run, so that they have more room and so that I can manage cleaning better.  At the moment, hubby has to crawl in there which isn't much fun. 

Any cleaning tips would be very much appreciated.

Gerry

[Jeanette]

In the coup i use hemcore and it is easy to just go and poo pick everyday. I give them a really good clean out about every 4 days. In the run i got some bark from BQ just empty the bags in the middle of the run and the girls love to sort it out themselves. You can also just do a poo pick with this but i just rack mine through now and then and put some stanoslan f on it to kill any bugs. Hope this helps.

[grumpydad]

straw when wet can house harmfull spores in the middle which can cause respiratory problems. we use, as well as a lot of others, hemcore or aubiose, in the coop, for bedding, also in the nest boxes, a nice thick layer will absorb the poop and make it easier to clean.

in the run, we now use easibed, a horse type bedding, we have used bark and shavings, in the past but find a thick layer of easibed soaks up and poop and spills, and they can dig in it for any loose grains, it is far easier to poop scoop the easibed, and is does not go mushy when wet like shavings.

any good feed mill farm or equestrian centre should have some

[jhub]

Hiya,
Stalosan F is brilliant- disinfects, dries out soggy bark chippings and deodorises.
Jane

[Goldfinger]

We've just come back from shopping and I was going to post a similar question, (guess someone beat us to it  )

Anyway, I'm asking... Is it ok to use Savlon as a disinfectent in to coop? We've seen it in litre bottles instead of the tiny ones. So was thinking is that ok to use, (neat or diluted in a spray though)??

[grumpydad]

for a liquid to use in the coop you need something like virkon s, this is a bacterial disinfectant which will kill viral infections and bugs, as in herpes virus, mareks disease. ideal for the coop, as it is a liquid and dries out, no dust left in the coop, stalosan f, is a powder form, same type of bacterial disinfectant, ideal for use in the run.

not sure about savlon, some things dont do humans and chickens, so i cant say it would be good to use, someone may come along and give some better advice