Cleaning coop with water?

[Mama Farley]

Coop is maybe 10 years old, I’ve been here for a year. It’s full of cobwebs, dust, etc. Hubby wants me to take a hose to it and some vinegar. We have 10 hens and a rooster. What are your thoughts? Should I? Or is sweeping it out 1-3 x per week enough?

 

[Folly's place]

I sweep mine out occasionally, and actually used the shop vac to get the cobwebs last fall.
My wood coop would likely melt if watered down! We shovel out the deep bedding maybe three times each year, sweep then, powder the floor with permethrin, and add new shavings. It's a total mess for a couple of hours, and done.
Mary

 

[aart]

I am opposed to cleaning a coop with any liquid.....you want to coop to be dry.
Depending on your climate it could take days to dry out thoroughly.
Moisture can 'feed' all kinds of pests and organisms.

I use a shop vac to get rid of the dust and cobwebs once or twice a year.

 

[Folly's place]

Unless you have a sealed concrete block building, and practice commercial 'all in, all out' poultry keeping, there's no way to really clean the coop. They use hot water and disinfectant in power washers, and it's necessary for them. For us, no way. A standard home coop can't be cleaned to those standards, unless you burn it down and start over.
Mary

 

[LizzzyJo]

I guess it depends on the type of surface in the coop. The whole interior of mine is wood painted with thick, glossy paint, so I clean it about 2x a year with water/vinegar. Only on hot and dry days when the birds are out free ranging. I open all doors for about 5 hours to dry it back out. It's always worked well for me. If it were porous wood, I would not use water, as mold would likely grow.

 

[aart]

with water/vinegar.

Wiped with a damp cloth(?) is one thing...

to take a hose to it

'hosing it down' is a whole other ball game.

 

[Mama Farley]

Thank y’all! Hadn’t thought of using a shop vac! The coop is very old wood, so water would be awful. We’ve had a couple of leaks during storms and it does take a couple of days to thoroughly dry out. Here’s to hoping I can get all those nasty cobwebs out!

 

[Mama Farley]

The shop vac was a huge success! Thank you again for the advice!