Cleaning poultry housing - The Accidental Smallholder

It's important to keep poultry housing clean to prevent disease and the build up of pests such as red mite. Dirty bedding will likely cause a build up of ammonia in the atmosphere, which in turn can cause conjunctivitis and also predisposes the birds to other respiratory problems.

How often you have to clean the house out depends on the size of the house and the number of birds but if you can smell ammonia, it will be adversely affecting the birds.

When the bedding is completely cleaned out, dust the house thoroughly with red mite powder or spray with a disinfectant such as Poultry Shield especially round the perch ends.

Virkon S is useful also as it kills viruses, E.coli, salmonella and campylobacter. A car vacuum is useful for removing old bedding from those hard to reach places.

We spray the perches and surrounding wood with Poultry Shield and dust the nest boxes and the bedding on the floor with Diatom.