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[mrsatroy]

I was just wondering what do people use when they clean their eglu? I have recently bought a cube and get my hens in 2 weeks. Is it necessary to buy a special cleaner or are there cheaper alternatives? Thanks!

[Jenthelibrarian]

Once a week we take the whole thing to bits and it is scrubbed out with warm water and Ecover all-purpose cleaner [in the bottle with the yellow top] or failing that, Ecover washing up liquid, which makes more bubbles. Rinsed by hose.

Wiped round with kitchen paper and dried in the sun/wind.

 

We have wood-chip in the run, which gets raked over, any offenive bits picked out, and a spinkle of ground sanitiser [Nettex, bought via Ebay, was cheapest when I got it]. Have topped chips up once since starting out in April.

 

The poop tray is lined with newspaper and this is changed once or twice between the weekly scrubs. Poop goes on compost heap, used paper in our green bin [encouraged by local council ]

 

Straw in the nest-box gets shaken up daily and changed if someone has seriously pooped or there's been a broken soft egg [meaningful look at my girls ]

 

I also hose out the Glug every day or so as my hens kick woodchip into it.

 

So far we've stayed clean and healthy on this regime. Will be interested to hear what other owners do

[good_egg]

Once a week poop trays and roosting bars, plus divider get removed and scrubbed in a bucket with a wee bit of fairy, then hosed off. Nest box gets emptied then whole inside gets wipe down with pet safe disenfectant. Nest box has duck tape stripe on bottom to stop sawdust falling through, sawdust and a puff of diatom poop trays also get sawdust with a wee sprinkle of bokashi to dry everything up. Run is easibed which gets raked and picked and sprinkled with nettex. During the week I put on rubber gloves and pick out the poop trays (saves on volume and the bokashi dries out the poop so quite easy) and if I'm feeling virtuos I pick the run in between (use to do it each night, now not so much). Occasionally sprinkle extra nettex if any curry poo yuck near feeder. Mornings i fluff the nest box as sometimes gets a wee wet patch with rain, ih and remive the feathers from my broody or moulting baby! Everyone seems happy with this but will see if it stays so thorough in winter!

[Salop Chuck]

I bought Poultry Shield (a multi purpose cleaner and Red Mite eradicator) to dilute and use in plastic bottle with a pump stray. At least once a month I sweep out the loose stuff first and then spray all over and into all the crevices with the diluted Poultry shield. All the chicken poo and dirt that sticks like glue to the plastic just melts away. I leave it on for an hour and then wipe over with kitchen roll. It is a really easy regime to follow and takes no time at all. I have been doing this for over 4 years and swear by this product even though it is a little expensive to buy in the first place.

 

The bars and dropping trays get checked over once a day and after knocking the poo into the compost bin I generally give them a quick wipe over with a damp kitchen roll.

 

Hope this helps.

[mrsatroy]

I am planning to put my cube and run on wood chips. I can't get nettex here in Ireland and its crazy money to ship it from the UK. I can get Stalosan, do people find this effective as a ground sanitizer? BTW thanks for the replies, been very helpful

[jackian]

Stalosan is great . I just sprinkle it in the run and rake it in every so often . It is safe for the chickens and very widely used .

[Salop Chuck]

I agree with jackrow re Stalosan F - my local Wynstay Country Store sells more Stalosan than any other bedding and run sanitizer so that's saying something. I have used it from the word go and wouldn't use anything else. Also it is widely available, which helps.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I mainly use Poultry Shield to clean my (wooden) coops.

 

However, we've not really had a huge number of dry days this year when I could take the coops apart, clean them, dry them and reassemble them, so I must confess they haven't been Poultry Shield-ed yet this year

 

However, I have put Stalosan F down inside the coop to try and keep it healthy - just a light sprinkling when I change the nest box bedding and poo pick etc - and it does seem to help. I would like to get it all scrubbed out with Poultry Shield before too long though, as it's something I try to do around 3-4 times a year so I feel very slovenly that I haven't been able to do it yet this year.

[Egluntyne]

I use Smite. It is a cleaner and red mite killer. I also give everything a good jet washing when the mood takes me.

[Redwing]

Flash spray with bleach

[chickencam]

I use warm water and washing up liquid on my weekly cleans of my wooden coop, and my Eglu and a spray of Total Mite Kill pink spray in vunerable areas. The Eglu gets full jet wash a couple of times a year. I use Stalosan in the runs every so often and we have just changed to wood chips in the Eglu run with 4 new ladies but have used bark chips withoout any problems until now in both runs. I wash the grubs and glugs in just hot water and washing up liquid with the occasional run though the dishwasher if they are looking a bit ingrained grubby.

[mrsatroy]

Ok starting to get things straight in my head now thanks to all the replies Can I also ask is Diatom sufficient to use on the hens to prevent lice etc. or is there a better alternative? Thanks again for all your replies and patience

[stu]

The cube gets washed with washing up liquid and a car sponge once a week (I use a sponge to prevent water falling into the area the chickens make their dust bath, and I use washing up liquid because ot kills bugs and flies. I also use this on the plants) The roosting bars get blasted with a hose and washed with a brush head, as do the poop trays (Note to self... remember to buy a big wet-suit). The nesting box is filled with shredded paper, and this is picked out, when soiled and replaced at the time of cleaning.

The run is wood-chips and gets raked... it's never so bad as I try and let the chickens roam when I can.

 

I've had wooden houses before, and they are great, but all in all... the cube is just fantastic to clean, and takes no time at all really.

 

I need to look at ground sanitisers I guess, but I am in Ireland also, and I get fed up with trying to get stuff here. I also despair at the shipping costs that I would have to pay to get Eglu accessories here. *sigh*

[Lavenders_Blue]

Ok starting to get things straight in my head now thanks to all the replies Can I also ask is Diatom sufficient to use on the hens to prevent lice etc. or is there a better alternative? Thanks again for all your replies and patience

 

I think quite a few people here use diatom as a preventative, so I'm sure it's okay. Personally I don't use a preventative for lice (my hens hate being handled which doesn't help!) so I tend to keep an eye on them and treat for lice as necessary. In 3 years of keeping hens the only lice my girls have picked up are the lice that my first batch of ex batts arrived with. A quick spray of Johnson's spray soon sorted that out

[Yellowjedi]

I clean the Eglu tray and roostbars at the weekend with diluted PoultryShield and a scrubbing brush, dry them off and then line the tray with newspaper covered with a hen house freshener (can't remember name - bought from Omlet) and a few squirts of Diatom.

 

We use straw in the nest box (and the run whilst it's temporary) - these get Diatom too. Will investigate Stalosan.

 

Every four weeks or so I've sprayed the Eglu inside and out with Johnsons cleaner and given it a good wipe down. Will do a deep clean/take apart soon when I get a clear day. Only started this in May!

 

During the week I poo pick from the tray and the run (and round the garden) - I use a litter pick - it's great - no bending or stretching into the run! If there are any softies (Chong ) I clean those out as they appear.

 

The water thingy gets cleaned with Ecover washing up liquid every couple of days (and has a good scrub with a nail brush - perfect size). Have to do it quite often as it gets full of straw and Chong likes to walk in it! At the moment I'm using a high sided ceramic dog bowl for their mash - stops them spreading it everywhere or tipping it over. That goes in the dishwasher or gets scrubbed with the water container. I can't get along with the Eglu food thingy - almost break my fingers trying to get the lid on and off.