For Marek's clean up, is DC& R just as good as Oxine as a disinfectant?

[pigcoon]

My community only seems to have DC&R in stock. Amazon and others charge $10 for shipping for Oxine. They are different chemically. Does anyone have an opinion which is better?

I have a mostly wood and PCV pipe coop that I need to clean up from Mareks?

Also any recommendations for the dirt floor--digging out and replacing a few inches is my current plan.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I don't have direct experience but I have read that some people have sprayed Odoban to kill the Mareks.

 

[seminolewind]

I use Virkon for major cleaning. I put it in a sprayer. The bucket lasts a long time. Virkon is what poultry houses and livestock places use. The label includes Marek's as one of the things it kills.

 

[Haunted55]

http://www.revivalanimal.com/Oxine-Fogger-and-Oxine-AH.html

http://www.revivalanimal.com/articles/how-to-use-oxine-ah.html

http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm

http://www.heavensentranch.com/poultryhealth.htm

I have no idea about the product you are asking about, but after doing months of research the only thing I will use here is the activated form of Oxine. Not activated it can be used for many thing, but activated it kills Marek's first application. Bleach will also work, but it takes many cleaning with it, as bleach is not so good at sinking below the surface. You also need just about a 1-1 solution mix of the bleach and the water, apply with a sprayer, let sit for 15 - 20 mins. for max saturation, then rinse with a powerwasher or hose. Do it again and again and again, until You know every crack and crevase has been saturated and rinsed many times. If you have bare wood.....ooph! You can clean with either thing but to be honest, I would white wash it afterwards. Either product, you will need either a face mask or an ambulance, user's choice. Ask me how I know that one, lol!

Quick lime would be the easier method of cleaning the ground and then rototilling it in. This needs to sit for a week, after doing it. You could also use the activated Oxine on the ground but I would do a few applications of it to be sure. Now something I have been thinking about for use here if I ever decide to quit, cull and start over. A heat gun. Time consuming, pretty good electric bill here in the NE, but Marek's is killed dead by temp extremes. If you had know before the miserable cold we had this past winter, you could have culled and let the cold take care of the Marek's and been ready for new chicks about now. Since that's not an option now, a heat gun , like you'd use to remove paint would be a really good option. Again, be careful!!! You want to heat the wood to below kindling temperature, not char it. Make sure if you are going to try this you have a spray bottle of water right with you! You heat it until you just see wisps of smoke and then move on. If you see glowing red, hit it with the spray bottle of water. Did I say that this could be an interesting project? Lol, yeah it can be but it would work. I had read of another person on BYC who was using one of those ice melters to go around their property to kill the Marek's and did some research on the heat and found out it does and will work! Of course you have to make sure you have no infected birds on your property first. The only other thing I have found, through researching Marek's killing, is an ozone generator. Pricey and probably not even feasible for a chicken house. It would have to be made totally air tight for this to work.

Like I said on the other thread, you're kind of between a rock and a hard place with this situation Pigcoon. There really isn't any easy way around it.

 

[pigcoon]

Thank you everyone. You've given me more to think about!

I had my last hen put down this morning so I have time for clean up before the chicks in my dining room (2 weeks old) will be outside in the area vacated by my sick hens.

Here is a picture of my coop in terms of structure. This was a couple years ago, so there is more enclosure around it now. So there is a lot of air and ventilation, but then there is that wood, and of course the dirt/sand floor that need to be cleaned up.

My five hens are in the second picture, before the Mareks took over and wiped them out one by one.

Hoping for a fresh start but got to do some major disinfecting.

 

[pigcoon]

One more thing, since the hens would free range at times, does anyone have suggestions for treating the yard? They did tend to keep to certain areas.

 

[Haunted55]

One more thing, since the hens would free range at times, does anyone have suggestions for treating the yard? They did tend to keep to certain areas.

Lime and time. Lawn lime is strong stuff, it burns and will kill the Marek's virus there now, if given time to work. It will not keep a new outbreak from happening if it is again brought onto the property.



You'll have to forgive me, I think of what I have for buildings, in terms of clean up for the Marek's. If my set up was like yours, here's what I would do....dismantle as much as you can, remove tarp, sand, and if possible take out all of the wooden things and put them into the sun. I would use a mild bleach and water clean-up first, 1/4 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water, hot. Scrub everything, rinse and then make a fresh batch of the mix and scrub again. I have a very stiff brush here and will scrub unpainted wood until the fibers start to come up in like a fuzz. No idea how many times you'll need to do this but you will want to make sure where ever it is that you are cleaning is, #1, no place the new birds will be, #2, no place your old birds had been. Once you have everything down to bare, 'new looking' wood, I'd let it dry in the sun. After it's dry I'd be using the 1 - 1 ratio of bleach and water in a sprayer and totally soak everything wooden. Please wear a face mask....don't be an idiot like me, lol. Rinse and dry. Then again and again. You want that wood saturated and to suck the bleach into the fibers as much as you can get it to. When you're comfortable with it, leave it in the sun to dry and air. The bleach breaks down in the sun and turns into salts like in fertilizers. Once dry there are a couple of things you can do, either go to HD and buy the "OOPS" paint and then seal all of the wood or make up a whitewash with water and lime. The paint will seal the wood but the lime will work for about a year to help keep the coop bug and disease free. the pvc pipe and chicken wire will also need to be sprayed with the 1 - 1 solutin of bleach and water. As you're doing this it will also be helping to get it out of the ground in the run area. I'd rototill the ground where the sand is as well after removing the sand. The tarps would be fairly easy to clean but in doing so you will weaken them and it may be better to replace if you can. If not, find something big enough to have them submerged in the bleach and water, use a stick and carefully stir them a bit to make sure everything is soaked, then leave them over night. Dump the water and rinse them and hang in the sun to dry. Once dry put them in plastic bags until you're ready to put them back up. No sun? Leave them in the bleach water until you have some again. New branch for the perch/walk. I was thinking you had a big building for your birds, it will take a while, but I don't think the clean up with yours will be as intensive as mine would be.

I don't know what you did about the Marek's vaccination, so no idea how much of an exposure these chicks have had so far. If it were me and it has been, I would give it my best shot. If even after everything, these new chicks do get the disease and the mortality rate is as high as it was with your firt ones, I would wait until next year before I try to start over again. Depending on how much these sick birds ranged after this past winter, I do think you may have a chance to have live birds next spring. If they were out from mud season to now....I honsestly can't tell you. The brutal cold we had this past Winter would have killed any old virus outside of their area and as long as they didn't reintroduce more, through shedding....

Please forgive any mess ups with the spelling and such, I had an argument with a duck's wing yesterday and lost, lol. Only have one that's good right now and it's my weak one, so vision is a bit off. I will not come back and read this when it's better either, lol! I don't want to know!

I wish you the very best Pigcoon and am crossing fingers and toes that everything works for you.

 

[pigcoon]

Haunted I truly thank you for your detailed reply. You have given me so many good ideas!

It's such a bummer to have gotten hit with Mareks for my first flock. I don't know anyone else that has ever had to do this much work for their chickens!!

The new chicks haven't been exposed to the illness. They are about two weeks old. I wasn't able to get them vaccinated day old, but I did it myself a couple of days ago. They're a long way from going outside so I'm hoping to get a handle on everything outside before they go out. They will then be in an intermediate coop before getting into this bigger one, so I do have some disinfecting time and lime time.

Thanks all! If anyone has any other ideas, please post!

 

[Haunted55]

I'm glad you were able to do the vaccination rather than waiting for the Vet. That was just so wrong on all levels.

 

[blobear23]

Where do u get the vaccine?