Question about cleaning the coop

[fernandez0067]

I have a 10 x 12 coop with a large run:

It was all made out of old telephone poles and stuff we had laying around the yard

The wood is not pressure treated... how do I go about doing a real thorough cleaning and what do I use. My DH said not to use the pressure washer because the wood will hold too much moisture.

Should I just scrape everything down (it needs a good cleaning) and maybe sprinkle some DE?

Ive been changing the pine shavings and cleaning out poop from under the roosts, etc. weekly since Ive had the chickens. But some of the poop is really stuck and Im goign to need to get out the scraper.

Should I be doing more than that?

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

don't know the answer but I like your coop and run!

 

[Chicky Tocks]

I don't understand your DH's thinking that the wood would hold too much water if you pressure washed it. If it is made out of old telephone poles, then they get rained on...rain rains on them built into a coop, they're going to get wet....

I would pressure wash them on a low setting. Just my opinion though. Otherwise you'll be out there scraping until kingdom come and that's going to make you not so much want chickens anymore....or you could have DH do the scraping since he thinks pressure washing would ruin the wood.

 

[fernandez0067]

haha good thinking...

so if i do pressure wash it,.. we have one of those really high powered ones that shoots really hot water and steam... should i scrape everything down and spray it with a solution (maybe bleach & water?) and then pressure wash it off?

 

[MSHEN]

There is a good recipe for a farm disinfectant that I use. Dilute one gallon water with a cup of bleach, then add a cup of white vinegar. The rationale is that the acidified solution also kills spores that bleach alone will not. I make mine a little stronger. I am a nurse and just know too mich about how strong "bugs" can be. I use this solution also when I clean out waterers. I would spray down your walls a nd floor and let the coop air out several hours, probably longer. Hope this helps.

 

[patandchickens]

I actually agree with your DH if you're talking about the indoors of the coop, especially since it does not look like you have large amounts of ventilation that can be opened up. You don't want the wood staying soggy and humidifying the indoor air for days or weeks to come (nobody cares if a *telephone pole* stays wet

)

I don't honestly see the point in pressure washing in this sort of circumstance. Yes, pressure washers are fun toys, but I mean, besides that

Normal ongoing good sanitation should keep things pretty clean; if you find bits of gunk stuck to walls, a scraper, possibly with the addition of a squirt bottle of water and a stiff brush, will take care of them easily. Sweep the place out *real well*, and you're good to go.

If you have odor problems you may consider adding more ventilation, unless there's a lot that's not visible in the photo.

EXTREMELY COOL run btw

-- what is the construction of the hoops that hold it up?

Pat

 

[DDRanch]

Great looking set-up.

 

[Lalaith]

MSHEN, I'm clearly no chemist, but don't the bleach and the vinegar sort of neutralize one another? Or is acetic acid too weak to react with sodium hypochlorite? Darn- I knew I should have paid more attention in organic chem.

I do find that a dilute bleach solution works really well for sanitizing almost everything around the farm. I especially like to use it in the chickens' waterers and then leave them in the sun to kill all of the nasties.

As far as pressure washing goes, I don't think you're going to hurt the wood any. Does your sprayer have different heads that you can change for different strength of blasting power? Cause mine can be gentle enough to water the flowers with or strong enough to chip concrete, depending on the attachment.

 

[fernandez0067]

I talked to DH and he said its not the cedar (telephone poles) that he is worried about because cedar wont rot. Its the pine frame that we used from the trees we cut down ( not pressure treated ) I dont know if there are adjustments for the pressure washer, its one of those real big ones... haha i have no clue.

There is a window on the back side that I can open up.

I think I will just scrape everything down real good and where the poo is stuck use a solution to clean it. No reason to create a problem with it not drying well enough. It dosent smell or anything I just have this OCD with making sure everything is as clean as it can be ... especially for my animals!

patandchickens --- the run was made with these storage things we had lying around... they both were covered completely with tarp. One of them actually had a door on it so it worked out perfect. we just took the tarp off of them put em next to eachother and covered with chicken wire.

 

[MSHEN]

In response to the question concerning the effectiveness of a vinegar/bleach solution, according to an aticle published feb. 17th,2006 by the American Society for Microbiology, decreasing the ph of the solution to 6.8 or lower, (acidifying) increases the antimicrobial effectiveness from 80-200 times more than a solution that is alkaline in value. In other words, it transforms the solution into a more broad spectrum antimicrobial, killing those additional spores that cannot exist in an acidic environment. Hope this helps.