Help with freshing a run, how to change from dogs to chickens?

[GhostRider65]

Well my place for my chicken run is an old dog run approximately 16 x 35, and around the corner of my garage another 10x25 with a 10x10 dog kennel attached to that section.
here's a picture of how its set up so you know, we converted an unused horse stall to our pen and are cutting a pop dorr in the back wall.

Well I need to figure out how to clean the soil some since for the past 5 years there has been a dog in this area, and rats digging under the dog house.grrrrrrrrrr
can I just rake it good spread DE over everything and say its ok or do I need to try to dig it out and refill with new soil. Keep in mind I live on SSD and have a very limited income, also have no tractor to dig with, and bad hands.......any suggestions would be awsum. TY all VM. Kim

 

[Kansaseq]

Unless it smells really bad,or there are lots of rat droppings, I'd just do what you said; rake and DE.

 

[JohnBob]

Quote:
I guess I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say "cleaning the soil". If the runs have dog poop then of course a good raking will be needed. If you're talking about smell then you can spread out a fast disolving garden lime mixed with baking soda on the soil. If you're worried about parasites in the soil infecting your birds then you can use the DE and a powdered borax on the soil. The borax will kill both the eggs and larva of most parasites. You can get the lime at just about any hardware store or nursery. The baking soda can be bought in large sacks at bakery/food service suppliers. The borax is avaiable as a powdered hand cleaner or laundry additive. Make sure if you use the borax to treat it as a pesticide around children and animals even though it has a low toxicity rating. After applying it dry, let it sit for a couple of days (keeping kids and pets off the area) then wash it into the soil with a water hose or sprinkler. It doesn't take a lot of water.

As far as the rats...they were probably attracted to the dog's left out feeding dishes. If their food source goes away so will they. When feeding your birds, just be careful where you place/leave your feeders and where you store your feed. In other words, don't make it easy on the nasty buggers.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[GhostRider65]

Quote:
I guess I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say "cleaning the soil". If the runs have dog poop then of course a good raking will be needed. If you're talking about smell then you can spread out a fast disolving garden lime mixed with baking soda on the soil. If you're worried about parasites in the soil infecting your birds then you can use the DE and a powdered borax on the soil. The borax will kill both the eggs and larva of most parasites. You can get the lime at just about any hardware store or nursery. The baking soda can be bought in large sacks at bakery/food service suppliers. The borax is avaiable as a powdered hand cleaner or laundry additive. Make sure if you use the borax to treat it as a pesticide around children and animals even though it has a low toxicity rating. After applying it dry, let it sit for a couple of days (keeping kids and pets off the area) then wash it into the soil with a water hose or sprinkler. It doesn't take a lot of water.

As far as the rats...they were probably attracted to the dog's left out feeding dishes. If their food source goes away so will they. When feeding your birds, just be careful where you place/leave your feeders and where you store your feed. In other words, don't make it easy on the nasty buggers.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Yes very much TY, I have already raked it well, mostly I was afraid of poop leaving nasties in the soil. It never has smelled bad and its always been raked out 2 times a year spring and fall. But I don't want my chicks digging around in contaminated soil. I wasn't sure how or what to add over the top to clean it and what about the after effects of using things like lime, or even borax which is actually safe to eat in some degree, for different animals, I was once told to feed a cup of it to my horses for the minerals it posses. How long do you think it should sit before I put my 7 week old chicks out there? TY again Kim

 

[JohnBob]

I've put the borax down and let it sit for 3 to 4 days dry. I then washed it into the soil and placed animals in the pen the next day. If it rains, it does the same thing, just saves you the trouble and the water.