How to disinfect the run

[cookinmom]

After reading AZMamas post about the necropsy, and dlhunicorn's response about disinfecting, I was wondering what is the best way to disinfect the run?
Inside the house I can figure out, but not outside. Would you maybe put the 1:10 bleach solution in a garden sprayer and hose it down while the chickens are out in the yard (mine, not theirs)? They eat the dirt, so I didn't know if this would hurt them, although it doesn't sound like it would be too good.

 

[opihiman911]

a bleach/water solution will be effective, but even better, more potent, supersanitizer is bleach/vinegar/water solution. For each gallon of water add 1 Cup regular household bleach and 1 Cup white vinegar. It has something to do with the chlorine in bleach being more effective in an acidic (vinegar) solution.

As a word of EXTREME CAUTION, don't mix bleach and vinegar together, it will cause toxic chlorine gas to be released. Mix your bleach into water and stir well, then add the vinegar to the solution. So, because you can't mix the two together you can't really use a hose attached lawn sprayer. I personally mixed a 35 gallon trash can and used that to flood the floor, then mixed 5 gallons into a garden pump sprayer and sprayed top to bottom, over and under, in and out of every crack and corner of my coop and run.

Learned this little trick from homeland security on how to disinfect and steralize my ambulance after a biological attack on my little sleep town in the middle of the Pacific.

Hope this helps.

Aloha,
Cory

 

[opihiman911]

sorry I forgot to post a link to the article citing the bleach/vinegar solution.
Giving credit where credit is due: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/asfm-vik021306.php

Aloha,
Cory

 

[Chelly]

Great info - thanks Cory!

 

[cookinmom]

Wow, that's amazing. Sorry I did mean the pump type sprayer, not the hose kind.
Thanks for the info Cory

You guys had a biological attack?? How scary!!

 

[opihiman911]

No biological attack per say, just an exercise and mock up of a potential attack. In reality it was just a bunch of flour and rice thrown all around.
It was great training and info, but in all reality it was just a waste of our tax money. Now if I was in New York, Miami or LA it would be of great use, but here in my speck of a town on my speck of an island, it was a waste.
They joked that they were training us because after an attack on a big city all the police, fire & medics would be dead or incapicitated. It would be us small town medics who would survive and have to go in and take care of the big city.....Here is to hoping that will never happen, I like it just where I'm at.

Aloha,
Cory

 

[jimnjay]

I wrote to Auburn University here in AL, with the same question. The answer was the same as mentioned by cory. I like the idea of flooding the run like she mentioned. I use on of those pump sprayers but for a lange area it would work much easier to flood especially now with not rain in weeks.

 

[Penske]

Our run is just about completely fenced in. Since we have so many feral cats (with worms, of course) and have fed wild birds in this same area, I thought about disinfecting the run. Will Cory's solution (water,bleach,vinegar) kill any eggs of the worms, too, if they are present??

Thanks for your help!

One week till the chicks arrive!!

P.S. Some may be wondering about the cats and the birds. The cats are well taken care of and well fed. TThey pick up the worms from the mice. They don't bother with the birds!

 

[ibpboo]

I have cleaned with bleach and water or vinegar and water, but never knew to mix the vinegar in with the bleach in water, thanks for the tip! Bleach kills stuff and vinegar dissolves stuff.

 

[Brian]

Keep in mind thta eggs, spores, bacteria, etc. are everywhere outdoors. Spray that ground in the morning, and new stuff has blown in by the afternoon. I think it is bound to help, but no run is ever truly "bio-secure".