Old shed clean up

[shawnhunts]

Hi! I am new here this is my second post. I have an old shed that I am trying to convert to a chicken coop and I have a few questions. A while ago (10 +years) the previous owner had pigeons in the coop, I am getting rid of their poop by scraping and sweeping. 1. Do I have to sanitize the area? 2. Do I have to rinse after? ( It is a dirt floor). 3. If I use a house hold cleaner do I have to rinse? 4. My plan is to tar paper the walls to cut down on drafts??(inside walls) then put up some insulation and hopefully find enough wood to cover the studs,tarpaper and insulation. Does anyone see a problem with this before I go to all this work?

I need to work on the roof too as it leaks in places. Thanks ahead for the information and advice.
shawn

 

[JP101010]

Hi and Welcome to BYC! Me and my hubby are also working on a shed coop

it does sound like you have alot of work cut out for you , more then you would have if you built a chicken coop and put it inside the shed.. but if your down to work hard , the whole shed will be an awesome coop.

fixing the roof will be important - if you can get it on an angle it will last longer because the rain will run off of it.
Another must will be predator proofing the coop- we found out the hard way that even a raccoon can get into a regular shed- that means digging a trench and burying hardware cloth or chicken wire at least 2 feet deep- covering any windows with the same wire. depending o if the shed is wood or aluminum you might have to reinforce everything on the bottom 3 feet to avoid an animal peeling up the aluminum- rivets and all.

I would hose/presure wash , everything down with a dilute bleach- here on byc theres a thread on cleaning solutoins with recipes & on the internet , then hose down to rinse well and air out for several days... then shovel out this dirt floor at least a good 2 feet and replace it layers of wood chips and hay. some people use diatomaceous earth ( aka DE) aslo to help with drafts- alot of people caulk everything good
there are alot of BYC members who have converted all sorts of sheds , old structures , etc- i love reading these ideas and tips-
go to the top right search bar and type in "convert a shed into a coop" and you will be able to see hundreds of posts and threads just for us crafty recyclers

Good luck and please try to post pics of the construction!

 

[Judy]

You can lay your wire mesh or whatever on the ground rather than digging. I've read 3' is safe though I'm sure some only go two. Of course it must be well secured to the coop and on the outside edge -- I gather there is some sort of lawn staples you can do this with. In time the grass will grow through it and secure it. I like this better because it's so much easier to check or replace if needed, besides being a whole lot easier to install. Of course there are also things like paving stones but that can get expensive and probably isn't as secure.

Screws holding the wire will be much more secure if they first go through a wide washer with a screw sized hole in the middle -- we used to call them fender washers.

You really don't have to worry much about draft in that climate, and I would only insulate for coolness, not warmth. Chickens have a whole lot more trouble with heat than cold and will need breeze almost year round. I think if it's hot enough, it's best to think breeze rather than draft. A 3 sided coop is plenty in hot climates. They will appreciate if there is no draft directly on the roost in January, but other than that it is better to be too airish than not airish enough. I would probbly put up some tarpaper and leave it at that, and not in the whole coop, just where the roost gets blown on. Not sure whether you would need OSB or something over the tarpaper to keep them from tearing it up -- probably you would.

I'm not sure that pigeons in there 10 years ago would pose any danger at all. Personally I'd spray a dilute bleach or ammonia solution around and call it done, unless I could find info to the contrary. Ammonia has the advantage of killing cocci which bleach will not, and yours is a wet climate, so I would certainly spray some dilute ammonia on the ground. There is a good disinfecting product you can buy called Oxine, but it costs.