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Newbie reusing existing dirty coop. Please help us clean and sanitize.

Barred RocknRoll

In the Brooder
Mar 29, 2025
2
8
16
Hi! Brand spanking new chicken mom here. It's also my first post so HI! Fellow Chicken Lovers!

Our TSC Barred rock “pullets” are now 6 weeks old. Probably good time here in Alabama to get them into the coop. They've been enjoying our chicken tractor on the dry days the last couple of weeks and they are ready for a new space to call home.

Stumped as to how to clean and disinfect the coop we inherited. It’s been 2 years since the previous owners had chickens and left it completely full of poop and pine shaving bedding. The pictures in the comments will show the current state, as we (meaning hubby) clean out the nastiness. It doesn’t even smell now. He’s already made a lot of repairs and we know we need to repair the coop flooring.

We plan to move the coop opening to the side so that there is a continuous floor. Also install an automatic coop door eventually.

While being ignored for 2 years, a few mama birds made nests on the top of the hardware cloth just below the roof. Hubby just pulled those out and they seem to be from last Spring or older.

A few main questions remain:

1. Do we need to sanitize since it appears to have been months since any bird made the place it's home?

2. How do we sanitize considering the dirt/ rock flooring? It doesn't seem to be sand at all, but looks like broken down pine bark. The dirt here is red from clay and stains things like concrete and doors where animals have jumped with dirty paws. The red dust is everywhere in the house too. We don't know how far down the rock floor goes down but one or two of the pics show the hardware cloth that goes below the floor elevation. It doesn’t get wet when it rains so I don’t know if it’s going to be a muddy mess after we pressure wash the coop and run.

3. After we clean/sanitize and it's dried out we thought we'd spray with PSP. Is that the way to go?

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Best regards,
Jill BR&R
 

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Hi, and welcome. Honestly, if it hasn't had chickens in it any time recently, I would not pressure wash it. I'd sweep it out good, add some kind of bedding and call it good. It's nice but a bit small. Probably only big enough for about 4 to 6 birds depending on the square footage. Figure 4 sq feet per bird of the enclosed area (not counting the nests).
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

I would not pressure wash it. Shovel, scrape, vacuum, leaf blow then spray with Odoban solution and let it dry. Treat for mites if you want but it's highly unlikely any are in there with no food source.
 

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