Cleaning a chicken house- Spray or scrub?

[elmwood]

Hi,

After 11 weeks of hen keeping our 3 pekins house is still looking clean and fresh. The 2nd house for the two new girls is now 4 wks old. I remove the daily poohs each morning. We line the floor with newspaper covered in a couple of inches of wood shavings. Nest box and perches plus the lower third of the house is dusted with Diatom. We pull the Pekins house apart every 3 weeks, and Mike mixes up 5litres of diluted poultry shield in a sprayer- he then systematically drenches the house, all its panels and leaves it to dry naturally in the sun. The 2nd smaller house for the s.poot and d'uccle, does not come apart. He does actually use the whole 5 litres!!

Firstly Is this overkill? (We do have a 1L ready mixed Poultry shield spray bottle which at this rate will only do the tiny broody/hospital house)

Should we be scrubbing in the crevices, or will the spray suffice?

Does poultry shield actually deter red mite? All looks well, and there are no indicators of red-mite (yet)....

Just need to be a little more economical, as our eggs are still roughly costing a fiver each. Also after taking delivery of more stock, Mike commented on the fact the girls eat better than we do?

 

[Davidd]

Hello, yes, i think your over doing it! i only do my coops/sheds every few months and 5 litres would last a few times- i have 200 plus chickens- not counting ducks and geese- as long as you check the birds and houses regularly then once every 3 or four months - if you can get some old fashioned creosote- they don't make it anymore but you might find some somewhere- and "paint" the houses with that- let it dry before putting hens back in - then that would last 6- 12 months. It is probably "new keeper " syndrome
so, relax, enjoy and just keep checking every now and then- the price of your eggs should come down !
and you only need to clean them out once a week
regards, David

 

[snifter]

Ditto the above All sound advice. Your eggs should not be costing you that much for sure.

I personally swear by Dettol to clean the hen houses out once a week in the summer. I just give them a good scrub inside, into all the crevices and so on, rinse it all out and leave them to dry.

Also I was told many years ago to encourage earwigs to take up residence in my hen houses. They eat the red mite I was told. So I let a batch of them move in and before cleaning and washing out the hen houses make sure to remove as many as I can and pop in a jar and replace them back into their home corner once everything is back in place.

I've not had a redmite outbreak in any of the housing I use both the above in.

I also swear by old fashioned creosote (from agriculture merchants not garden centres). But often these days you cannot buy it without a licence or something.

I personally found Poultry Shield to be an expensive failure. Didn't stop or prevent an outbreak when I was using it. Hence me trying other alternatives.

Good luck

 

[elmwood]

Thankyou guys,

I knew we were overdoing things.Have purchased Dettol for the summer weekly clean. Bought a new handy ready-mixed Jeyes fluid in a spray for £2. Bought some Wilko equivalent of Dettol, which was half the price- so I am trying to cut costs- Poultry shield is so expensive, well at the rate we get through it! (so much for doing a spreadsheet and revealing the horror of our poultry spending). Managed to get some Bartoline creosote from a good old-fashioned ironmongers in town, had to buy a 20L drum of it! So we are all prepared.

Can't begin to imagine the trials and tribulations that come with 200+ chickens. My five keep me on my toes.

Many thanks for all the sound advice and reassurance, Sharron

 

[snifter]

Just a heads up.

Don't use Jeyes fluid on the hen houses. Only use it on concrete and paving and then ensure you really really rinse everything down. Its nasty stuff and getting into the food chain for animals isn't good. I'd be very wary using it at all if you have any kind of wildlife in your garden. Getting into the ground and stuff isn't healthy for the environment in your garden.

 

[elmwood]

Thanks Snifter,

Will stick to Dettol and Creosote.
Its just I read on the bottle:-"Protect your pets from harmful pests and neutralise odours by cleaning and disinfecting kennels,hutches and stables on a regular basis. can also be used in pigeon lofts."
Clean greenhouses and disinfects pots.

Its a 750ml bottle containing >5%nonionic surfacant. Disinfectants Formaldehyde.

BUT as you rightly say, wouldn't want it to get in the food chain. Thank goodness we newbies have someone to get advice from. ..

So as it is clearly diluted, I will use on the concrete/paving where the girls love to poop!
Sharron x

 

[snifter]

I've never used the pre diluted stuff, only the full solution we then mix with water. It is so nasty. I won't use it round poultry apart from our old place where we had a big barn and concrete floor in the main hen house. Used to soak the floor off now and again to get rid of the crap etc. Would have to pen the girls up so to keep them away while we cleaned.

If the pre diluted stuff says its ok, then it should be. But I'd probably still not use it. I like my Dettol and earwigs too much :lol: :roll: