Sooo much pooping

[dutchie]

Like many my run, Eglu classic, is now becoming static for winter as I dont have a large enough lawn for the grass to cope with the chickens in winter.

 

I dont have a problem with smell, I can just replace the shredded matter if needed. My main concern avoiding parasites like worms, which I read is more of an issue when not moving the run regularly.

 

So my question is what are the pro's and con's of the different treatments available for the run. From searching the forum the options are:

 

Some people dont treat their run floor at all, just dig it over every now and then.

Diatom of some sort (Diatomaceous Earth/Biolink Diatom/Smite Organic powder/etc all seem to be the same thing)

Net-tex ground sanitising powder

Stalosan F antimicrobial

Garden lime

Others?

 

My run is on grass which is slowly disappearing now it's static, with shredded leaves/wood from my shredder on top. I have also only shredded wood chip ready in case the shredded leaf/wood mixture ends up being to wet, but the chickens love rooting about in the shredded leaves. And I have the clear run cover for if it gets really wet/snow.

 

I've sprinkled lime in my run so far, before putting the shredded matter down, as I have a natural source of limestone which I can just mash up with a sledgehammer

 

My first winter coming up with the chickens, so I'd be interested to hear what others recommend.

 

Cheers,

Dutchie

[The Dogmother]

I use either the Nettex ground sanitising powder or Biodry, both are goot and not as powdery as Stalosan which tends to blow around.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I didn't use anything for the first couple of years I had the chooks, just dug the ground over regularly. But this summer with all the rain and the mud, it was impossible to dig over and was getting REALLY foul, so I got some Stalosan and have been using that on a regular-ish basis. The run is definitely much better - less smelly and more hygienic.

 

As DM says though, it is very powdery and also it turns everything pink! (Preferable to worms and disease though).

[dutchie]

One of the reason's I'm asking is because when I looked at the ingredients of Stalosan it contains active chlorine/ bleach, and that's not something I want to put in my compost bins. Similarly the Net-tex contains peroxy bleach.

 

So the diatom options looks preferable, but I'd be interested to hear what people's experience with this is in regards to it's effectiveness.

 

Cheers,

Dutchie

[The Dogmother]

I doubt that Diatom would have any beneficial effect on the worm Oocysts and bacteria if I am honest.

[dutchie]

I doubt that Diatom would have any beneficial effect on the worm Oocysts and bacteria if I am honest.

 

Really? A water engineer told me diatomaceous earth filtration is commonly used to remove oocysts, and has solid research supporting it's highly effective in that use. So I was hoping it would work in our case too.

[The Dogmother]

Never heard of that before, but as you obviously have scientific back up then go ahead.

 

I'll stick to what I use at the moment

[dutchie]

Well after my water engineer friend mentioned that, I did do some research and I did find quite a lot of studies supporting what he said. Diatomaceous earth is used in a lot of municipal water treatment plants. I even found out the US Army used it in their water filters in World War II to remove Giardia, Cryptosporidium and bacteria.

 

If I can avoid using bleach products in my run, I'd prefer it, as at the moment I compost all the run contents.

 

But I'm interested to hear in people's practical experience. Obviously water filtration is different to chicken runs.

[The Dogmother]

I've been using a ground sanitising powder of various sorts for many years, I compost the litter on a regular basis and never had any problems with it, but I guess it's best that you go with what you'd prefer.

[good_egg]

There is something called bi-oocyst that is different to DE so I assumed DE didn't do the job. I use bio dry and nettex ground sanitiser, started only using nettex but was having ammonia problems with the little ones so started using bio dry in house and it sorted then thought might as well use both in run too!

[dutchie]

There is something called bi-oocyst that is different to DE so I assumed DE didn't do the job.

 

I looked at Bi-Oocyst, and it's different because it's a disinfectant. The product sheets says it contains sulphonic acid, and says it causes burns to human skin, and is very toxic to aquatic organisms, so it didnt sound suitable for use in a run on earth.

[dutchie]

I've been using a ground sanitising powder of various sorts for many years, I compost the litter on a regular basis and never had any problems with it, but I guess it's best that you go with what you'd prefer.

 

You dont find it affects your compost rate then? My compost bins are full of useful earthworms, so I dont want to harm them.

[The Dogmother]

Not at all, they are all trundling away. I give all my excess manure and litter to a friend with a lottie and they are always very happy with it too, I sometime put some litter/manure in my wormery, which has been going for 6 years and that's fine too.