question about Stalosan F

I am s glad you asked that question Debsie.  i also wondered how people keep their runs from getting smelly?

Well I understand how the coop can get damp from all the poo that gets in there as the birds spend a great deal more time inside now the nights are so long.

If you don't have red mite that's wonderful. You don't need to scrub and wash a coop for it to be clean. I use a shovel to remove any bedding and then use a stiff nylon brush and dustpan to get the remaining bedding out lastly I use an old paint scraper to remove any stuck on last bits of poo. Before I put clean bedding back in I use a product that I believe is just about the same as Stalosan F that I get from Wells Poultry called Bio Dry. It's a highly absorbent (heavy) powder that can be rubbed into damp patches and distributed across the coops floor. Then the bedding goes on top and then another good sprinkling of the powder. I know that HF doesn't like dust as it can carry bacteria etc. but I feel this powder is really heavy and sits pretty firmly on the floor of the house and sinks into the bedding. It absorbs a great deal of moisture from the birds poo and then you get into a fairly decent cycle of keeping the house predominantly dry for your birds. Once the better weather returns you can give the house a really good Spring clean and Poultry Shield. You might also like to look into making up a slurry of Diacrematiouse Earth (I'm sure that's not how you spell it) a good slug of washing up liquid and diluted poultry disinfectant (Poultry Shield) or water and painting that throughout the interior of the coop and the perches. It will help keep poo splattering on the walls easier to scrape off and can be intermittently touched up. You will need a nice dry day for this to allow it to dry sufficiently before the birds go to bed.

Many people poo pick regularly, however I do not. I simply add a fresh lighter layer of bedding and another handful of bio dry and then clean out the whole hen house thoroughly every two to three weeks in the winter. This means I'm not out in the wet and wind trying to clean a hen house. Chickens of course need to have their accommodation kept clean and fresh but it does not need to be immaculate. As long as your hens have a good area to scratch, good food and as dry as possible accommodation they will be fine.

OL

PS One last fantastic addition you can make is a coop liner. If you can get hold of a marquee maker or someone who makes plastic fabric signs (you sometimes see them draped over the front of buildings) and ask them to cut you a piece of their marquee fabric to the size of your hen houses floor it can make cleaning out so much quicker. You just roll or slide out the liner with all the mucky bedding into your bin or wheel barrow. You were very nearly there with the newspaper idea but as you said it just goes soggy. If you cannot get yourself a liner brown paper feed sacks are a good next choice.

thanks for advice, we are planning to cover most of the roof of the run. In answer to your questionJoyful about the house being wet, this is not from cleaning it is from the girls, as I said I put down newspaper and wood shaving on top, last week it all just seemed really wet when I cleared it out.
Will try the stalosanF and think seriously about a washable liner