What can I use to wash down the inside of the coop?

[chickenlittle1980]

Bleach water mix........... vinger? PLease someone let me know!

 

[GoldenCometLady]

I hope someone answers you as that is just what I wanted to know.
DH and I were discussing that just this evening.
Surely someone has the answer we need.

 

[Fuzzypea]

I think it depends on the kind of coop you have...

We have a small wooden coop that holds about 8 chickens. When we built the coop, we put pond liner on the floor of the coop (to protect the wood from chicken droppings),
and then put a layer of hay on top of the liner, to give our chickens something soft to walk on.

We clean out the coop once a day by just putting on some gloves and picking out the clumps of clay that have the poop in them (we compost the poop and use it in the garden).
Every once in a while, we do a "deep cleaning" on the coop by taking out all the hay, scrubbing down the pond liner, and putting new soft hay in.

Maybe you could try doing something similar- I would highly recommend it!

 

[GoldenCometLady]

I have a wood floor and we put down pine chips.
I would like to know if there is a certian disinfect I need to be using.

 

[chickenlittle32]

Oxine is a good disinfectant....

 

[MissJenny]

Here's what I know about the difference between a bleach/water solution (from 5% to 50%) and a vinegar/water solution (also 5% to 50%). Bleach does not clean anything, though it does disinfect, however, once bleach dries it is inert. This means that bleach does not reactivate or continue to disinfect should it become damp again. Vinegar, on the other hand, is an excellent cleaner as well as a disinfectant. It also will reactivate once it has dried and been re-wet. For these reasons vinegar is a more efficient solution when cleaning and killing mold and mildew.

Vinegar does emit a lingering unappealing odor -- I combat this by adding drops of essential oil into the spray bottle HOWEVER, do not use an oil that can be harmful to the chickens such as rosemary oil or any of the mints.

Bleach can be dangerous for the chicks/chickens should it come in contact with the ammonia aspect of chicken feces.

Having said all that, my preference is a 30% solution of vinegar to water, which is surely stronger than necessary.

Jenny