New Coop with bad smell.. help

[Cluk lik a duk]

Hi everyone...I am newbie but learning as I go. I don't even have any chickens yet.. Yup .. total newbie.. Anyway hubby and I are in the process of redoing a garden shed into my coop. The old shed had a dirt floor and stuff piled here and there. Well once we cleaned it all out their was a ton of mice nests.. and the smell is bad. We are putting down the subfloor and them 3/4 plywood on top of that and then linoleum. But here is what I am wondering.. the mice will come back in and under this floor we are putting in so how can I keep them out and get rid of the smell, before we put the floor down? Should I spray it down with Clorox / water / soap mix and just hope for best? Or just not bother at all... after all it's just a coop and they can't actually get inside !! Please share your thoughts!! Here is a picture of the floor in the works. TIA

 

[KDK1]

Lime will get rid of the odor. If mice were there before, they will come back after you give them a food source.

 

[Cluk lik a duk]

Thanks.. I will put lots of lime in their. And we are going to fill in all the underside with rock.. that should stop them lil buggers!! Thanks

 

[21hens-incharge]

Oh they can get inside. I know since they got into mine.
I converted a shed into a coop 4 years ago or so. I have been battling the little stinky disease carriers ever since.
They chewed through the 3/4 inch plywood and the linoleum in the corners and went to town making themselves right at home in the new digs.

I have even caught them chewing the feathers off of a sleeping hen.

New coop in process now for me.
I am going to put hardware cloth between the plywood floor and the frame below it. I have seen them go right through the 1/2 inch square hardware cloth I have on the windows. Just squeezed right through it like it was not even there.
Yes it is expensive and yes it is a lot of work. It is the best solution (I hope it solves it) I can think of.

Kind of scared of what I may find when I demolish the existing building.

 

[KDK1]

Oh they can get inside. I know since they got into mine.
I converted a shed into a coop 4 years ago or so. I have been battling the little stinky disease carriers ever since.
They chewed through the 3/4 inch plywood and the linoleum in the corners and went to town making themselves right at home in the new digs.

I have even caught them chewing the feathers off of a sleeping hen.

New coop in process now for me.
I am going to put hardware cloth between the plywood floor and the frame below it. I have seen them go right through the 1/2 inch square hardware cloth I have on the windows. Just squeezed right through it like it was not even there.
Yes it is expensive and yes it is a lot of work. It is the best solution (I hope it solves it) I can think of.

Kind of scared of what I may find when I demolish the existing building.

I had the same problem. In my old coop, they were in there every night having a field day. I know this because I have a IP camera in the coop. When I built the new coop I went through extensive measures to make it "mouse proof". The first week in the new coop was great, I did it. It was Mouse proof! At least I thought. They found their way in somehow after about ten days, back to square-one. I figured if I took their food source away, they would leave. I built a new feeder that you can see on my page that the chickens can access but the mice cannot, After watching them every night trying their darndest to get to the food, they started giving up. There were fewer and fewer every night for about a week untill they left all together. That was a couple of years ago and they haven't been back since.

 

[21hens-incharge]

OOOOOHHHH I like that feeder set up.

My current feeder is hung from an 8 foot ceiling with a rope about 18 inches from the corner of the coop. I pick the feeder up every night and hook the handle on the hook the rope is looped on. I stuff the rope into the feeder. During the day my feeder is about a foot off the floor of the coop. I would be surprised if they were actually going upside down across the ceiling to drop into the feeder and then back out somehow.

 

[KDK1]

OOOOOHHHH I like that feeder set up.

My current feeder is hung from an 8 foot ceiling with a rope about 18 inches from the corner of the coop. I pick the feeder up every night and hook the handle on the hook the rope is looped on. I stuff the rope into the feeder. During the day my feeder is about a foot off the floor of the coop. I would be surprised if they were actually going upside down across the ceiling to drop into the feeder and then back out somehow.

At first, I hung it about 8" off the floor but the chickens kept filling it with shavings so I hung it about 18" off the floor and built the "chicken stool". Problem solved!
I did something similar for the automatic waterer in the coop.

 

[Cluk lik a duk]

Oh my gosh.. I want to make one of those.. Could you give me some direction. How long are your 2x4 that are vertical? And then the top ones.. how long are they? Directions please.. this is just what I want

 

[KDK1]

Oh my gosh.. I want to make one of those.. Could you give me some direction. How long are your 2x4 that are vertical? And then the top ones.. how long are they? Directions please.. this is just what I want

All the measurments are relavent to your feeder size and hieght. The top of the stool is about 6" below the feeder and about 8" from the feeder. I took the feeder and set it on some kraft paper, laid out some 2X4's around it and took some measurements. All of the boards are cut on a 22½° angle and screwed together then attached to four 4X4 posts.

 

[Cluk lik a duk]

All the measurments are relavent to your feeder size and hieght. The top of the stool is about 6" below the feeder and about 8" from the feeder. I took the feeder and set it on some kraft paper, laid out some 2X4's around it and took some measurements. All of the boards are cut on a 22½° angle and screwed together then attached to four 4X4 posts.

ok.. I think I can do that.. meaning hubby can!! I will post a picture when done! Thanks