Serious mold problem with Playhouse coop and sand

[drumstick diva]

Carolyn252, seems like you thought of everything. What a lovely place to live.

 

[SirFarmAlot]

I'd make sure you have proper weather protection and then I'd try some fossil shell flour.

 

[cluck-darth-peep]

3 months ago, we turned a child's plastic playhouse into a coop. We covered the back window with chicken wire but the plastic shutters are open all day. I close them at night. The second window is their exit/entrance door. They too are the actual plastic shutters but I keep those open all day as well so the young chicks go in and out as they please. We have a wooden floor just below the windows, then another wooden floor as the base. The wooden base we call their basement which is where I keep the food and water. Nothing inside the plastic childs playhouse has been wet. I recommend chicken wire on 2 windows so the air can get through the entire coop.
The super nice thing about the plastic coop is no bugs digging in the wood, no smell from the poop in wood. Every 3 weeks I pull out the straw, use a garden hose and bleach on the entire coop. Open the windows and it dries in less than an hour.
THe plastic coop has worked out so well we are currently building an 8x8 plastic shed (from Lowes). I suggest you chicken wire a few windows and let the fresh air dry it all out.
We are trying to figure out how to insulate it. That is my problem.
good luck

 

[Carolyn252]

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Why thank you, drumstick diva !
-Carolyn

 

[Carolyn252]

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Kind of you to say so. Perhaps I will. Crazy busy just now; maybe next week or so.

Thanks again for the compliment.
-Carolyn

 

[calgal98]

I perused the 4 pages but didn't see any mention of Stall Dry. Its a product that I have used with great success in deep litter for winter time use. I mix it in with my shavings and stirr occasionally. The hens do lots of scratching through the litter so that helps too. It is non-toxic. I get the granular variety as the dust can be, well, dusty. Ventilation or lack thereof, is the biggest culpret for moisture build up.

 

[Carolyn252]

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Got them at Home Depot. If I remember correctly, the brand name was Suntuf. I deliberately got the clear, colorless, type so that there would be as much daylight passing through as possible. Be sure and also get the plastic strips of wavy bumps that support each panel where it meets your underlying surface. You'll see them right next to the panel display in Home Depot.

We mounted the panels on to the top of the beams that are on top of the welded wire ceiling of the run by just lying them on top without attaching them. No glue, no screws, no nails. We dropped a long length of rain spout (from Home Depot) down on top of the panels and then secured it by wrapping nylon rope around the ends of the spout and the ends of a structural strut of the run. That way I can just unwrap the rope and take the panels down whenever I want, to scrub the panels twice a year because of accumulated leaves and tree nuts and acorns and twigs that rain down on the panels. The instructions that come with the panels say to screw them down but I was afraid of rain leaks, even if the screws were well caulked after installation. (And also, if they got screwed, I'd never be able to get them down to scrub them.) (I don't like dirt!!)

I just went out now and took some photos showing how the rainspouts are lying across the width of all the roofing panels and showing how they're tied down on each end:

We were going to use pvc pipes, but when we saw how incredibly inexpensive the rain spouts were, we bought them instead.
-Carolyn252