Sterilising houses

[chickenfan]

I'm wanting to move some of my growers into wooden housing where older youngsters have lived. I gather this is risky re transfer of diseases like coccidiosis and others which are carried in young birds before they have built their immunity. I plan to pressure wash, then steam clean, although the house will then be quite wet. I don't want to used toxic chemicals. Just wonder if there are better ways?

 

[dinosaw]

I use Vanodine V18 which is an iodine based disinfectant, whether that is outside of what is acceptable to you I don't know, also stalosan powder kills occysts and is as disinfectants go on the gentle side of things. Steam cleaning isn't ideally what you want to do to wood I'm sorry to say.

 

[Marigold]

I use Barrier V1.
Which is made from plant based extracts, highly effective and smells lovely and fresh, unlike some of the very powerful ones. Recommended for use in organic setups.
Expensive, but used in recommends dilution and sprayed on it does go a long way. Not sure this link is the cheapest place to get it, and thy do a 5-litre pack which is more economical of course.
Or of course just google 'disinfectant for chickens' - there are several good ones and all will be safe if used correctly, though I would steer clear of Jeyes Fluid which does smell awful and the fumes are highly toxic, to humans as well as birds. Poultry Shield is OK if used in a fairly high concentration for a deep clean.

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you Marigold and Dinosaw. I haven't come across Vanodine V18, which looks interesting, but can't tolerate Stalosan or the normal (highly toxic) chemicals which kill Oocysts, so am a bit limited to heat, freezing or dryness for controlling coccidiosis. Yes, use V1 for all normal cleaning, and I agree its a great product.

 

[dinosaw]

I used V1 before we moved, agree that it smells lovely and never had any problems while using it though the suspicious soul that I am I was always wondering how effective it was as logic would dictate that if something is completely non toxic then how lethal to pathogens can it be?. In the days before inorganic chemistry people would let their urine ripen into ammonia (lant) and use that as a disinfectant which makes it an organic solution to the problem though even that doesn't kill everything. If you really need to use heat then I would advise using a blow torch over a steam cleaner on wood, very popular in the pigeon fraternity who also suffer from cocci.

 

[Marigold]

If the house has not been used by birds with cocci, and if none has actually shown up in your flock, then a good clean is obviously a sensible precaution, but I wouldn't get too worried about infection springing from nowhere.

 

[chrismahon]

Coccidiosis is everywhere in the environment. Good healthy chickens will be immune to it once over 6 weeks old. We use nothing more than a scrub with Poultry Shield. Someone suggested Jeys Fluid somewhere I read, but that leaves a highly toxic residue in the wood apparently. Our fine jet steamer works well and we've discontinued our creosote programme, except on new coops because red mite love clean wood, as we have previously discovered.

 

[chickenfan]

Cocci is carried in young birds and even if they show no signs of any illness because they are building resistance gradually, you can't put younger ones into the same environment without taking precautions for Oocysts. I did have 3 chicks with it this year because I put them in a house where healthy older chicks had been - apparently a recipe for disaster, although not all were affected. I've vacuumed ánd steam cleaned the house with no ill-effects to the wood, although I'm sure a blow torch is better. Steam cleaning gets rid of house dust mite. It seems oocysts are easily destroyed by heat, but I'll let you know if I have any problems.

Yes, Jeyes fluid and creasote both evil stuff. I'm sure V1 works well against most things. It smells strongly of cloves, which is an excellent antiseptic.