Suggestions for sterilizing my coops.

[thwoody28]

I have individual coops for each breed of chicken and I wanted some ideas for sterilizing after I clean the coops out. I have a ground floor and I use wood chips to reduce the dust. Does anyone have any suggestions of maybe a spray or would you just use water with a bleach solution in my sprayer. If there might be something on the market that you know of, please advise. Thanks everyone!

 

[Carolyn252]

Some byc'ers use a 50/50 solution of plain white vinegar and water to spray everything down with.

Some use Oxine solution. It's available at amazon.com.

Properly diluted with water, Oxnine can be used to spray everything down with and is completely safe and non toxic to people and chickens, but will sanitize the whole coop.

To completely eliminate all contamination of virus, fungus, and infection, Oxine can be activated with citric acid and then used in a fog machine to completely fog the entire coop. But that activated solution is EXTREMELY toxic to humans and chickens, and you have to wear a respirator.

I haven't used Oxine, but I just found out about it from reading someone else's post here on byc. I then read up on it by googling it. I ordered some yesterday and will dilute it with water and use it as a spray. Just as a general preventative. I'm not comfortable with the idea of activating it and making it toxic.

Read up on it and you can decide about it. Up to now, I've just used vinegar and water, and have had no mold, bacteria, or viruses. But I'm thinking I'd like to have the Oxine on hand to use as a spray, just in case I see mold starting anywhere in the coop or run.

 

[florida lee]

I have used OXINE and it works, also many people I know have used it for a long time. Comes in concentrated form and must be diluted with water. If using the activator, then what you have mixed must be used right away. I have not used the activator. Not really needed for our small operations. Generally the large commercial chicken operations use the activator. Check it out.