Sooo much pooping

[lortloaf]

Last year, after many years of loving chickens and wanting to care for some, we read up on all the crucial stuff and asked some questions and then built our own little chicken coop!

Sadly our financial climate did not allow the acquisition of any chickens, so the coop has been sitting dormant since August.

 

With the sun out and nothing to do on a lazy Sunday I decided to crack the coop open and see what horrible beasties had decided to make it their home. I partially slid the lid off and jumped back.. a lone wasp emerged, must've been a queenie. She flew around the coop for a bit and then away, I guess you could say she flew the coop.

Anyway, using a broom for fear of mega-wasp frenzy I knocked the lid right off and cautiously peering in.. nothing!

A half-built wasp nest lay on the bottom of the coop and a lone spider ran away when I opened the chicken-door.

 

While trying to fish the wasp nest out it kind of got.. smushed up, and then the queen wasp came back and has been sniffing around the coop for the last hour, so I thought I'd come to the wonderful Omlet community to see if there are any good ideas floating around!

 

*** In case my rambling is too much for you, you can start reading from here! ***

 

So the questions are;

 

1) Is there any kind of magical potion I can make or buy to sit in the chicken house while it is empty that will stop wasps and any other baddies from nesting?

2) Any other tips or tricks to keeping an empty chicken house generally safe and ready for use? eg. I don't want to flood the thing with pesticides and then have my brand new chickens eating irradiated bugs for weeks to come

 

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to find a nice breeder and begin the adventure as a chicken carer, very excited!

Thank you to all in advance

[Egluntyne]

You might want to hang something like a Red Top Fly Catcher in the vicinity. Apart from that, I'd sweep it out every so often and leave it at that.

[Plum]

I'm sure when you get the chickens they'll eat any bugs left behind. Mine are always snapping at flies and love a spider