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My neighbor's comment made me totally change how I clean the coop
So last month my neighbor came over and saw me using a pressure washer inside the coop. She's had chickens for 15 years and said I was basically blasting all the good bacteria away and making my girls sick. She told me to switch to a simple scrape and sweep method with a dustpan and just use a vinegar water spray for disinfecting. I was skeptical at first but tried it on my 8 hen setup here in Portland. Honestly my coop smells way less musty now and the girls seem perkier. Has anyone else switched from deep cleaning to a lighter touch and noticed a difference?
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blakem823mo ago
So you're telling me a quick squirt of vinegar beats a good pressure wash? I've been blasting my coop with bleach water for years and my hens are laying like crazy. Never had a sick bird or a bad smell issue. If anything, a light scrape just pushes the crud around instead of getting it out. Sounds like a recipe for mites and bacteria buildup to me. I'll stick with the hose and a good scrub thank you very much.
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beth_green3mo ago
Oh man, I feel you on the pressure wash habit. I used to do the same thing until I realized all that bleach and water was just soaking into the wood and making the coop damp for days, which is exactly what mites love. A good scrape gets the bulk of the crud off, then a vinegar squirt on the bare spots kills bacteria without leaving toxic residue.
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