Disinfecting??

[pamsmithtulsa]

How ofen do you disinfect your coop? What do you use?

We clean the coop once a week, really scrub down the roosts, sweep up all the poo and spilled feed, etc, but was wondering how often do we need to disinfect the surfaces? I read some people use vinegar, some use bleach mixtures...what do you use?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I only clean out the coop every few months as we use 3-4 inches of pine shavings and that contains the waste well. Once a year each spring I hose out the coop. I think you'll find most people settle for clean and airy coops. Actual disinfecting is done if your flock somehow was subjected to disease. That occurs with introduction of new chickens or from your natural surroundings. We've had chickens for 4 years with no disease so never have bleached the coop.

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

Thanks! I heard some people disinfect often, but figured we wouldn't need to really do that unless we had an illness. We have 19 chickens in a carport coop and they have a yard twice as big as the coop to run in all day long and they are let out to eat bugs and grass twice a day because their yard is really shaded and doesn't have any grass.They really have it pretty nice.

 

[buckaroogirl]

I've never disinfected, just clean out the shavings when dirty, I have a cat litter scoop to clean the poop out of the nest boxes for the silly hens who sleep their at night. And put down DE everywhere when I'm done. Voila!

 

[MoonShadows]

Girls been in their coop for 4 months now. We have yet to clean, except the poop board. At the end of October we plan to remove the current floor covering of chips, put them in the compost, and add more that will stay on the floor until April. We have no intention of disinfecting.

Cleaning once a week, depending on your definition of cleaning, is a bit much. You'd be amazed at how well chickens do without much effort on your part. Fresh water, good food and protective shelter. Don't sweat the rest unless there is a general illness or some type of outbreak. Chickens are not cats or dogs. They live in "dirty" environments and do quite well. It doesn't bother the chickens; just some people.

 

[buckaroogirl]

Well when people to come visit my chickens from the city to get eggs, I know they appreciate a clean coop. And so do I. I hate tracking chicken poop around on my shoes.

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

We sweep out the poo and scrape the poo off the roosts every week, one because we don't want anyone complaining about the smell and we also like to go in and not have to worry about stepping in poo, plus I just like it too be somewhat clean. We don't have shavings on the floor, just dirt so it is no problem. We do throw some hay in their yard (all dirt as it's totally shaded) so they can scratch around in it. We rake that up and replace every weekend. Oh and the girls all get free time twice a day in the real yard where there is grass and fun bugs!

 

[MoonShadows]

If you use shavings or chips in the right amount you won't get poop on your shoes or bad smells, and it actually encourages good micro organisms. It's called the deep litter method.

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

Thanks moonshadow. It would cost me a fortune to do that as their coop is HUGE, it's a carport, and they have access to a totally shaded aka all dirt yard all day. Just no way to put shavings down everywhere