New flock in a used coop

[wolfej9]

Last Friday two stray dogs came into my yard, broke into my coop and killed my small flock of chickens. To say I was upset would be an understatement, as they were my family pets, but we kept our cool and are blaming the owners for this tragedy. We were able to detain the dogs (friendly to people), and the police department took them away for quarantine and identification. Thanks to my wife and social media, we found out who the owner was in less than an hour, and he will be compensating us for our losses.

My family and are heartbroken over the ordeal, and we decided to order some new chicks from MPC. It raised the spirit of my young daughters thankfully (ages 3 and 8), and now they're excited for their new pets to arrive.

So now I have a couple of solid months to turn our coop into the Fort Knox of the chicken world. I do realize that I'll need to clean and disinfect the current coop though. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should go about C&D on the coop, after all of the bedding and poop have been removed? I'm honestly not sure what type of cleaner should be used...

Thank you all in advance for your help!

 

[wolfej9]

I guess this was a lot easier than I thought! I talked to my vet, and he said just remove all of the biomass that I can, and then spray it all down with bleach. Rinse well, and everything should be just fine by the time the new flock moves in.

That was easy!

 

[donrae]

You've already gotten an answer, but here's my input.....

I've never disinfected a chicken coop. Ever. I have a rolling flock with new chicks being hatched all the time and they just go in with the big birds. No one gets sick. I had one bout of cocci years ago from chicks that had to stay in the brooder way too long and were overcrowded, other than that nothing. All that bacteria that can build up simply exposes new chicks to their environment and helps them build good immunities. Since your previous flock was killed by predators and not disease, you may want to go easy on disinfecting and give your new chicks an immune exposure boost instead.

 

[chiques chicks]

Ditto. No illness, no real need to disinfect, in my opinion. Clean it out and keep it dry and airy.

I actually only clean my deep litter annually (at best) and also have a rolling flock. There is no water in my coop and it is very ventilated, so it stays dry. Doesn't even smell real bad, but I live in the country among farms, so it's hard to tell

If you do disinfect, use plain unscented bleach at 10% solution and leave the coop open to air well.

 

[wolfej9]

Those are really good points, thank you both. I've never been in a situation like this before, so I just assumed that C&D would be the proper way to go. My previous hens were all very healthy and happy, so I'm not concerned about any disease issues from them. Maybe I'll just do a thorough rake and sweep out, and leave it at that until fresh bedding needs to go in. Between now and when the new chicks will be ready for the coop, I have a good 8 weeks or more.

Great input, thank you!

 

[Mrs. K]

I am of the 'flock' of a sweep and a promise, no washing, good venitlation. What your vet recommended would work if disease was involved.

What I would like to address is keeping out the predators!

My boys, (men) built me Fort Knox, and I have had every predator known to man!

If the lower half of the run is a woven wire lined with chicken wire, that will work. Then go with chicken wire completely over the top to totally enclose the run. The on the ground, surround the run, lay down 12-15 in wide apron on top of the ground. Anchor it in place with some rocks, or garden fabric staples, and staple it to the run. Eventually the vegetation will grow up through it. What this prevents is a digging predator, they like to dig in a tight U, rignt next to the fence. The wire will cut their feet, and they won't dig out farther away from the fence.

Be very careful at the gate, often times an area of weakness in the run. What has worked for me, is a board placed vertically at the bottom, so that the gate closes on it.

Good Luck.

Mrs K

 

[wolfej9]

I am of the 'flock' of a sweep and a promise, no washing, good venitlation. What your vet recommended would work if disease was involved.

What I would like to address is keeping out the predators!

My boys, (men) built me Fort Knox, and I have had every predator known to man!

If the lower half of the run is a woven wire lined with chicken wire, that will work. Then go with chicken wire completely over the top to totally enclose the run. The on the ground, surround the run, lay down 12-15 in wide apron on top of the ground. Anchor it in place with some rocks, or garden fabric staples, and staple it to the run. Eventually the vegetation will grow up through it. What this prevents is a digging predator, they like to dig in a tight U, rignt next to the fence. The wire will cut their feet, and they won't dig out farther away from the fence.

Be very careful at the gate, often times an area of weakness in the run. What has worked for me, is a board placed vertically at the bottom, so that the gate closes on it.

Good Luck.

Mrs K

Great points Mrs. K. I had read about burying hardware cloth or chicken wire also, and I definitely plan on doing that now. The dogs managed to tip up part of the low end of my covered run, and they must have had enough force to uproot it. It wasn't anchored well enough it would seem. I'm taking this opportunity to expand the entire coop and run, and I'll be sure to bury the posts in the ground along with the wire fencing. My neighbors and I all help one another with oddball projects, and they were already planning the new fortress even while I was discussing things with the police at that time. They're great people, and a huge help. The new setup will be far too heavy and much stronger all the way around. The new roof and extension we're planning on making a solid sloped top, shingled and hinged for weather proofing and easy access for a human to get in and clean, add food/water, etc. I'm determined not to let predators get in again!