Disinfecting chicken run

[jessmorris]

Hello there,
I'm thinking of putting my girls on deep wood chips in a small run over the winter to rest the rest of the garden. Can anyone tell me what I can use to disinfect the soil in the area where they will be excluded from? Is it Virkon S? And will this harm my plants?
cheers for now,
JM

[chris]

Haven't used it myself, but Stalosan rings a bell..

[Suechooks]

You can get some stuff from Flytes so fancy which is specifically a run sanitiser. Stalosan is also a powder disinfectant. I've no idea whether Virkon S will harm plants but it sure will disinfect the soil! Why not try th virkon on small area or plants that don't matter?

[RichmondHens]

Your best bet is lime, available from builders merchants. Scatter across ground until it looks like you have dusted with icing sugar and keep birds off for 3 months.

Chris, Stalosan is a dry disinfectant designed to use inside - ie stables, pig pens, hen houses etc. I use it in my hen houses during the winter when the birds spend longer inside.

[jessmorris]

Just ordinary lime RH? That would raise the pH too in the garden wouldn't it? Does it bind with the chuck dung? Sorry - lots of questions!

[chris]

Apologies, I read run as coop. (Late nights, early mornings!!) Was shocked when I was reading about liming the coop, until I got to the part about keeping them off it for 3 months

[RichmondHens]

Just ordinary lime RH? That would raise the pH too in the garden wouldn't it? Does it bind with the chuck dung? Sorry - lots of questions!

I think just ordinary builders lime. I don't use it myself but neighbour does on his cattle field. Principal job is to kill parasite eggs, not sure about how it affects garden plants although doesn't harm grass unless you spread it too thickly. If you are getting a "build up" of muck you probably have too many chickens on one area. If they are off the area the poo should break down and wash in pretty rapidly (with or without lime) and come April the ground should be good enough to put them back on. We rest land for six months minimum, often longer, but I appreciate not everyone has that luxury.

At this time of year and with the awful weather a smaller pen filled with woodchip and lots of perches will probably serve you better anyway than a larger roaming area. Mine aren't doing much roaming today, they are all hiding under bushes and houses looking very sorry for themselves and hating the biting wind and freezing rain!

[Suechooks]

I've always used garden lime in runs I was leaving empty. I scrape off the top couple of inches which makes lovely compost - other allotmenteers queue up for it! In fact one man offered to dig it out for me!
I've tried the Net-tex run sanitiser this time as I may need to use the run sooner than is advisable with lime

[RichmondHens]

I think garden lime and builders lime work in different ways - builders lime for killing parasites and "cleaning" ground, garden lime is milder and more of a soil improver.

[Snadger]

I haven't used it, but I found a big bag of lime in the corner of the allotment when I took it over. As my soil doen't require liming I wondered what it was for until I learned that the previous occupant kept chickens.............problem sorted!

[jessmorris]

Thankyou all. I'll try the buildres lime. Its not that I have a build up of dung in the garden (only on the paving, which I can sweep up). Its just that I have lost a lot of hens this year from 'bacterial infection', 'E coli' etc so think I need to do something to improve their lot.
They've been in the front garden today which gives them a change of scene....

[Hilary B]

I could tell you the chemistry difference between gardening lime and builder's lime, but all that is relevant is they are distinctly different! In fact buildre's lime comes in more than 1 form, 'quicklime' is very effective as a disinfectant, but a bit dangerous if you don't know how to use it, dried slaked lime (more usual these days) is safer (but you still don't want to let chooks try to eat it), most of the other types are not actually dry, and probably won't do what you want.

[jessmorris]

So just to clarify HB, I need quicklime or slated lime (hydrated lime?). if so, that starts to make sense now. I know farmers lime their fields with ground limestone to raise the pH and make them more productive in high rainfall areas, but didn't think this was a disisnfectant. (hmm interesting spelling there!)
Builders lime will be what they put in cement? Or for lime plaster?
Thankyou everyone. I will go to my nearest builders merchant. Might as well pick up some rock salt too, its like an ice rink here today.

[Suechooks]

I'd be very careful with quick lime - isn't that the stuff they used in the foot and moth outbreak to destroy the infected carcasses in the pits?
I checked the Net-tex "Ground sanitiser" and that kills parasite eggs and larvae.

[frias]

I think builders lime is also known as slaked lime, caustic lime or quicklime. It causes skin irritation, burns, blindness and lung damage. I wouldn't use it anywhere I was going to put my chickens.