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Newbie alert!! - Tips on cleaning an eglu please.

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Have just bought a second hand eglu and want to get it spick and span ready for the arrival of 3 ex-bats in a couple of weeks. Any hints and tips on cleaning it would be gratefully received.

 

Also, have got both a winter and summer shade - can I put them in the washing machine and can I use normal disinfectant to clean the eglu and, last question - can anyone recommend a good book for novice urban chicken keepers? Thanks a million.

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Keeping Pet Chickens is a great little book I've got it and it explains it all simply not bewildering you with lots of info that you don't understand or aren't interested in i.e. Breeding though a few pages cover that too.

 

I can't help you about the eglu info as I haven't got one yet, still deciding on either the eglu or cube.

 

Wishing you loads of luck with your new girls!

I think your doing a great thing! :D

 

Alix

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If you've got a pressure-hose, apparently they are great for cleaning the eglu. I haven't, so I resort to a bucket of hot water with some added Milton fluid*, a scrubbing brush (and a small scourer pad for getting into nooks and crannies) and plenty of elbow grease :)

 

You might also want to invest in a new set of roosting bars, in case the eglu is well-used - they're not expensive. Just make sure you get the right sort, as the design changed a couple of years ago - they're easy to tell apart, though. The Omlet shop also sells all the other "loose" components, in case of breakages (mine had broken bolts, as the early designs used plastic, not metal), but you hopefully won't need any!

 

* You can also use any pet-safe disinfectant, but not Dettol, bleach or other cleaners that go cloudy in water (the phenols are poisonous to chickens)

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Keeping Pet Chickens is a great little book I've got it and it explains it all simply not bewildering you with lots of info that you don't understand or aren't interested in i.e. Breeding though a few pages cover that too.

 

 

I agree I also have this book and am new to keeping chickens - I found it very useful and informative

 

I just clean mine with water and elbow grease - but mine is a new one - sorry not much help there!

 

Tiffany

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A spare set of roosting bars is a must, one to wash one to wear :lol:

 

I just use hot water and washing up liquid and one of those scrubing brushes with the handle over the top. In the summer we rinse off with a hosepipe but in the winter I have wiped it over with fresh water and dried it with kitchen paper.

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I keep a 'chicken bucket', with rubber gloves, sponge, scratchy pad, pet-safe disinfectant (you can get one in any pet shop) and some anti-mite powder. I then do the whole thing with a bucket of soapy water, spray with disinfectant and when dry, I refill the nest box with straw and some mite powder. Some of us find it convenient to have a spare set of roosting bars, as they take ages to dry. I made my spare set as I happened to have the right sized wood, but Omlet will supply them. Hope this helps.

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Ditto to all of the above....except that I just use ecover washing up liquid.

 

I rinse it away with a watering can with a sprinky thing on the end, and in this weather I dry it with an old towel kept for the purpose.

 

On a sunny day I use the power washer which brings it up like new.

 

:lol:

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Ditto all above except I have a big plastic tray from Lakeland plastics (I think it is meant for cleaning oven trays) that goes under the grub to catch the dry mash that gets chucked out all over the place and then when I am cleaning out, the roosting bars fit in it and get a squirt of ecover washing up liquid and a couple of kettles of boiling water poured over them. By the time the water has cooled enough to handle the bars clean up really easily.

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I have a chicken bucket- an old bucket that belonged to my parents. I didn't think it had the official name of " chicken bucket" :wink::lol:

 

I also have a metal veg rack thing on wheels which I keep all my chickeny necessaries on.It's great for hooknig my pink marigolds over the edge to dry. Sometimes I wheel it down the garden, feeling a bit air hostessy.

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I love the idea of the 'chicken trolley'! Ditto to all of the above - hosepipe, rubber gloves, Ecover washing-up liquid, WELLIES (most important - I always soak myself with the hose), and I use a brush intended for scrubbing flowerpots. I can clean both my Eglus and reassemble them complete with aubiose and a dusting of diatom in half an hour - it is so easy.

 

Top tip - when you have got your chickens, and they are pooing in there, if they happen to poo in the nestbox, clean it out BEFORE you soak it with the hose. :oops: I frequently forget this simple fact, and end up having to clean poo soup out of the nestbox ... :vom:

 

 

Rona, I like the idea of the Lakeland tray ... might try getting one of those.

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I have a chicken bucket too!!

 

Contains blue scrubbing brush, trowel (for getting poo off bars) and old towel (for a wipe down dry after cleaning) and ecover washing up liquid.

 

I wash everything down with the hose after dismantling, then scrub everything with ecover washing up liquid (small amount). Sit and leave everything "soaking" for 5 minutes. Then blast everything off with the hose.

Leave to dry naturally whilst i clean out the run.

Dry off any wet bits with old towel.

 

Hubby tried our new pressure washer last week and everything including the roosting bars came up like new :D

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