Starting again - clean up?

[supchicks]

Hi all,

We successfully raised our first flock of four girls for 2.5 years and they have now gone to that big stock pot in the sky. I'm getting ready for a fresh crop of chicks this spring, but am wondering about needing to disinfect (?) the run.

Our run is a fenced patch of our garden, so there has been lots of poop and feathers from the last lot of girls. To protect my newbies from any leftover germs, do I need to somehow disinfect the ground? Is that even possible? Do I just put down some fresh dirt, or will that make any difference? Thinking about those little chickie immune systems and what's best.

I appreciate any advice on what you do to turn over from old flock to new.

Thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

Did you have any disease issues? If not, I'd not do anything to the run. Any thing you do to the run to try to sterilize it is going to kill the beneficial soil microbes and do more harm than good. Simply give the coop a good cleaning. If you can get power to the coop, you can brood your chicks right in the coop with a MHP.

 

[supchicks]

Thanks! No disease issues. Looks like we'll just give a good scrub to the coop and be off to the races!

 

[aart]

Thanks! No disease issues. Looks like we'll just give a good scrub to the coop and be off to the races!

A good scrape maybe.....but 'scrubbing' implies water/liquid to me, and it's best not to wet a coop IMO. Moisture is life, and can cause blooms(overgrowth) of organisms be they disease or molds or ...???

If you do feel the need to use some liquid, give the coop a good, long time with lots of ventilation to thoroughly dry before putting chicks in there.