Would a UV sanitizer/bulbs work in a coop?

[OC closet chicken fan]

i am sort of collecting ideas for building my chicken coop... has anybody installed UV sanitizers in their coops to sanitize areas...or placed them on timers to turn on while chicken is out of coop... what yall think about having UV in the coop a good idea?

 

[wyododge]

That may work but you would only sanitize something coming in contact with the UV light very close to the source. Otherwise the UV is dispersed and has little or no effect.

I for one raised my chickens 'dirty' so to speak. they were in the dirt and grass immediately upon receiving them, no medicated food. I wanted them to get the antibodies built up to make them strong and able to beat any kind of bug that came about with a sledge hammer. Sterilizing stuff will only reduce their naturally developed immunity, the same as with people.

Just our philosophy though.

 

[Cherstin]

You might already know this, but I just wanted to add this in case others who are reading this aren't familiar with UV lights. You have to install the light in some sort of cabinet, with air flowing over it in order to clean the air. The reason for the cabinet is because UV lights can cause eye damage up to permanent blindness in a matter of minutes. The bulb absolutely has got to be shielded from direct eye contact.

In Florida, we use them in our a/c systems to control mold, but mold shouldn't be an issue in a coop ... if it is, you need to defeat the source, not just "clean-up" after it. This is just my two cents. My husband is in the air condition business, and installs them all the time. I wouldn't think to put them in a coop though, but I'd love to hear some other opinions! Definitely subscribing to this one!

 

[OC closet chicken fan]

the idea came about from a trip to costco recently. in the food court area high on the wall were these (unshielded?) uv fixtures they must be good for something direct or just air passing thru but they were regularly spaced out and also i got a tower type fan from there and inside this fan there is a compact UV bulb which is shielded from the outside... i am all for keeping things as natural as possible, however i could see the uv being utilized properly as another layer of protection against air borne bugs (hmmmm now wondering if the mites and other coops bugs are attracted to bug zappers......) it's a slow monday at work today so i wouldn't mind reading everybody's 2 cents