Well built but FILTHY gross old inherited coop. Am I doing this right?

[Gwendylyn]

The property is between Tacoma & Puyallup in Washington (will update profile). I'll definitely look into oxine. Thanks!

 

[MeepBeep]

All the clean up suggestions are really great. My only suggestion would be to NOT use bleach unless it is going to air out for a good long while before any chickens ever live in it. Bleach and ammonia (from chicken droppings) is a toxic combo.

Yes, ammonia and chlorine are a bad combo...

But, at the dilution I suggested, and the fact it will have a huge surface area once sprayed around 99.9% of the chlorine in the water will naturally gas off within 24 hours and/or when it dries out, whatever comes first... After 24 hours or once dry there won't be enough chlorine left to cause any harm, and your nose is a good indicator, if it smells like pool water or chlorine inside air it out more, if you don't obviously smell the chlorine you are good to go...

 

[aart]

Bleach can get 'used up' before it kills all the baddies. especially where there's alot of other 'dirt'.

 

[Gwendylyn]

Would vinegar be a better all around sanitizer for this application?

 

[aart]

Would vinegar be a better all around sanitizer for this application?

It's really hard to say, vinegar certainly wouldn't hurt, it's acidity will keep many things from living.

I think you use what is the most comfortable for you to use, from an efficacy vs risk standpoint. It's hard to know what 'bugs' you are dealing with, so hard to know what the best agent to use would be. Probably anything would help stymie the growth of molds and bacterias, probably nothing will totally eliminate them. So use what you think is best, then makes sure it gets good and dry and stays dry. Water is the source of life and most organisms cannot live without it, some organisms can stay dormant in dry/cold but re-emerge in wet/warmth.

Just some back story on where my thoughts come from.

I took a microbiology class as part of certification to work in a biological clean room(pharmaceuticals) and we did some testing on cultures with bleach, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol and a couple of industrial sanitizing agents. They grew several different cultures on agar plates, then we swiped them with the agents, they went back into the incubator. It showed us that the bleach, HP and alcohol were not the 'kill everything' solutions that many thought.

I've also studied the use of oxidizers(bleach is an oxidizer) in ponds to kill suspended algae, as the oxidizer kills the organisms it becomes spent and inert, if there's more organisms than oxidizer the oxidizing agent 'runs out' before all the organisms are killed.

 

[Gwendylyn]

It's really hard to say, vinegar certainly wouldn't hurt, it's acidity will keep many things from living.

I think you use what is the most comfortable for you to use, from an efficacy vs risk standpoint. It's hard to know what 'bugs' you are dealing with, so hard to know what the best agent to use would be. Probably anything would help stymie the growth of molds and bacterias, probably nothing will totally eliminate them. So use what you think is best, then makes sure it gets good and dry and stays dry. Water is the source of life and most organisms cannot live without it, some organisms can stay dormant in dry/cold but re-emerge in wet/warmth.

Just some back story on where my thoughts come from.

I took a microbiology class as part of certification to work in a biological clean room(pharmaceuticals) and we did some testing on cultures with bleach, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol and a couple of industrial sanitizing agents. They grew several different cultures on agar plates, then we swiped them with the agents, they went back into the incubator. It showed us that the bleach, HP and alcohol were not the 'kill everything' solutions that many thought.

I've also studied the use of oxidizers(bleach is an oxidizer) in ponds to kill suspended algae, as the oxidizer kills the organisms it becomes spent and inert, if there's more organisms than oxidizer the oxidizing agent 'runs out' before all the organisms are killed.

This is fantastic information & is very helpful! Thank you! I am a research junkie & have had a hard time finding data that was scientific aside from the sea of opinion out there. I can find tons to read about different people & their experiences which is invaluable on it's own as there is so much to be learned from our neighbors! I have equally been interested in finding scientific data to study to find the right balance for me. After I do a bit more research on Oxine, I think that may end up being my path. I realize some may think it's overkill but peace of mind is worth a million to me.