In a little less than 2 weeks, we will be getting a brand new batch of baby chicks! Our old hens are gone, and I am determined to be better educated and prepared this time around. We purchased our last flock of hens and brought them home without anything being ready. Yes, some girls might impulse buy shoes, but I impulse bought chickens!
Everything worked out fine in the end, but this time, I want to avoid the stress and hurry of bringing home chickens and not being fully prepared.
For the last several weeks, I have been working on preparing our coop. I want to give our new chicks the best start possible.
In doing some research, I’ve found that it is highly recommended to sanitize and disinfect your chicken coop, before bringing in a new flock, especially if they are chicks. Baby chicks are more susceptible to diseases or bugs that your old flock may have been carrying.
Even if you don’t get a new flock of birds this year, it’s a good idea to thoroughly clean out your coop at least once per year anyway. Just add it to your spring cleaning list!
Unfortunately, many sources suggest using bleach as a disinfectant. I don’t know about you, but I really hate bleach. I don’t like using it around our homestead, especially when it comes in contact with our animals. I just can’t imagine that bleach fumes will do the little chicks any favors…
So I was excited to discover that many people suggest using vinegar as a substitute for bleach. That’s right, plain old white vinegar! You can also add several drops of tea tree oil, if you would like. It naturally has disinfecting qualities.
We have had some unseasonably warm days, so I took advantage of the weather and attacked our coop!
The Process:
First, shovel and scrape all of the manure, dirt, shavings, cobwebs, and feathers out. It’s important to be thorough in this step, since the vinegar won’t disinfect the actual particles of manure, etc. I found a square shovel to be incredibly handy in scraping the floor. Old, dried chicken manure can be like cement!
Next, take a hose to it! Give the walls, floors, roosts, and nesting boxes a good spray down to remove the fine dust and soften any stuck-on manure or dirt.
Do a final sweeping/scraping of any remaining, softened manure or dirt, then allow the water to drain, or sweep it out the door.
Next, mix up equal parts white vinegar and water in a bucket OR just slosh straight vinegar onto your wet floor. I preferred the sloshing method personally. Then take your broom or brush and give everything a vigorous scrubbing, making sure to distribute the vinegar solution as thoroughly as possible.
Perform a final rinse, then allow water to drain or sweep it out the door.
Open up the doors and windows and allow everything to dry and air out. Sunlight also acts as a disinfectant, plus, fresh air is always beneficial. I have left my coop open for about a week now.
While you have the hose hooked up, be sure to scrub your feeders and waterers and set them in the sun to dry.
This is the cleanest that our coop has ever been. It’s quite a novelty to be able to see the floor, actually. I may or may not be taking a few extra minutes during chores to stand there and admire my shiny chicken coop. 
Leaving the doors open has also helped immensely. The air smells fresh and clean. I have a few more things to prepare, and then I think we will be ready. Bring on the chicks!
This post is a part of Finer Things Friday, because in my world, a clean coop is definitely a finer thing!
Hi! I hope someday to have chickens and I love seeing what you are doing with yours. Thanks!
They really are a lot of fun- and definitely the easiest of the homestead animals, I think!
I can hardly wait to clean ours out. It is still too cold yet — but the first 70 degree day, I’m so going to clean that coop out! Thanks for the tips.
I hear ya Nancy! Usually February in Wyoming is waay too cold to wash anything down, but we’ve had some strangely warm days here. I think think we are in for one or two more blizzards, though…
I really enjoyed reading about this. I don’t have chickens here at the apartment. however, someday I’ll have a place where I can raise them
Isn’t white vinegar the best? You can clean just about everything with vinegar 
Enjoy the new chicks when they arrive 
Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather 
I know, I absolutely adore vinegar! It is the best!
I am so with you on the impulse buy. My hubby won’t let me go to the feed store by myself during chick season. I always come home with at least 2 new chicks!!
Seriously, it’s worse than all the stuff they try to tempt you with when you are standing in the check-out line at the grocery store! Fluffy chicks are incredibly tempting!
This is a great post! I need to do this before chicks arrive next month and just to give the coop an overall spring cleaning. Thanks for the tips.
Hooray! Chicks everywhere!
Thanks so much for sharing this. We are about to do a big yearly clean on our coop and I did not want to use bleach. Will try the vinegar instead.
Blessings
Diane
Diane- I think you will like it- smells much better, at least.
Great post. We are adding new chicks this spring as well and I was planning on doing a thourough cleaning of The Little Red Hen House… Good old fashioned vinegar sounds perfect!
Thanks!
Deb ( from the Barn Hop today) Planting Dream Seeds
Thanks for the info! We are reusing some old nesting boxes that were here when we bought the house. They haven’t been cleaned up well from when they were last used 20 years ago. The first warm day we get I’ll attack them with the vinegar.
BTW, I wouldn’t know anything about buying animals on impulse!
I really love using vinegar, too! It really is a “miracle drug”! We use it for many things at our place!
It is just about time to clean my coop also, now that the weather is more cooperative. And I will be getting a few more chicks this year, too. But I did read somewhere that it is good for chicks to be introduced to the ‘germs’ in the coop that they will be living in. They build up their immunity by cohabitating with the older chickens.(I usually introduce the older chicks in a wired off area of the hen house). But it is still great to have a nice clean coop for all the chickens! Can’t go wrong with vinegar and sunshine!
Fantastic!! I found you while doing a merry little doe-c-doe on the barn hope
I love this! We have had chickens, and all met a nasty end 
but we are getting more this spring and THIS is what I have been wanting to read. I have only read, and been told of these ghastly ways to deep clean your coop, and I just haven’t been able to bring myself to do that. Thank you so much!
Looking forward to getting this done this year, things are getting pretty sour in our coop
At this point we’re planning on slapping a coat of whitewash on there to help keep things fresh.
Wow – this is great and so timely! I will definitely use these methods to clean out my coop this spring before my new chicks arrive. So looking forward to not using bleach! thanks
Thank you so much for this post! I looked at our coop the other day and decided that it needed a thorough cleaning. We had over 40 chickens but got rid of them recently because we thought we would have to move. The move fell through and I am really missing my chickens! We are planning on getting 16 chicks the first part of April so it’s time for some spring cleaning in the coop! I will be following your instructions to get it clean!
I can totally understand missing your chickens- we gave our old ones away in preparation for our chicks, and it just feels like something is missing every time I go out to do chores. Have fun with your new babies!
This is a great idea, especially since those “chicken diseases” are transferred so easily.
It looks great! I really, really need to do this, just haven’t got motivated yet this spring to do so. I’m sure my chickens would appreciate it, lol!
Thank you for the tips. We had our first warm day here in Michigan–the last day of my spring break from teaching. So we hauled out the winter’s droppings and pine shavings, hosed down our 3-in-1 coop and finished the job off with the vinegar/water solution. We use sand on a stone paver floor and that too is a fresh batch. Our three ISA brown gals look confused but curious and are gradually making their way in to investigate. Thanks for the advice for us urban chick farmers. We just got our girls last summer, so this is our first spring cleaning.
Sounds like you had a very productive day! Way to go- I’m sure your chickies are lovin’ it.
I can’t believe that I stumbled upon this post by accident, as just a couple of hours ago my husband and I were discussing how to disinfect the coops! Thank you for this and I will be using the vinegar method. I don’t use chemicals in the house and I really don’t want to use it around my hens or ducks.
So glad you found it in time and good luck with the spring cleaning!
Great to know! We got our first chicks ever 2 months ago, and this will definitely help out with cleaning their coop! THank you!
awesome post!!! i will have to keep this one on file. i also love the part about impulse buying chickens lol
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Yes, I’m quite impulsive when it comes to farm animals… Today I went to town to pick up one free rooster, and ended up coming home with 3. Whoops.
How many chickens do you have? We have 10 Buff Orphingtons and they are two years old. We just got eight Barred Rocks this spring and have them separated at the moment. Do you know how many you can have together in the coop? I think mine is 4×8? I think we may need more nest boxes at least as there are only three. Do you let your chickens graze?
Thanks for the cleaning tips
Hi Audrey- We currently have 14 hens and 2 roosters. I’m not sure what the “rules” are for how many to have in a coop. We have 4 nesting boxes, but I’ve found they only usually use 2-3 anyway. They have their favorites.
I currently am not able to let my chickens free range, as we have chicken-killing dogs. However, it is something I REALLY hope to be able to do in the near future. Perhaps we will build a chicken tractor or something!
Thanks so much for the information. I didn’t want to use bleach, either, and hadn’t thought of the vinegar. Do you have any alternatives/suggestions, however, to taking a hose to the inside? That’s not really an option in my case (chicken coop is attached to gardening shed and has a wood floor …)
Vinegar has so many uses. Add to your rinse wash cycle as a natural fabric softener, or to your dishwasher rinse receptical, it leaves dishes crystal clear.
As for our chickens…we use the vinegar regularly. I also rcommend pine shavings. They come in big bales at your local feed and farm store. They are quite reasonable (about $6). I use the shavings in the girls laying boxes as well as the floor of their inside coop. I change the shavings about every 2 months. We have little odor, few flies and very happy chickens, including Chick Magnet our resident rooster.
Some great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, we have a dirt floor in our coop. I’m not sure how to disinfect. The person we purchased our hens from used bleach, but I don’t want to do that either. We have 25 layers and get almost 2 dozen eggs a day.
Just stumbled upon your site.
Thanks for sharing!
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use hydrated lime.It will keep it fresh and no flies.This is what we used and it also works in the horse stables to keep down the urine smell in the stalls.C
lean out all the wet dirt you can and put the lime there cover with the shavings and you have a fresh smelling stall.
Just found your blog, it is beautiful, has great information and encouragement!
We have always had a dirt floor and if you have access to hay this works just fine. Throw it on the floor and it helps to compost the manure too. Sweep it out and use for mulch. In the past, we have also used cedar chips that we had sitting in the direct sun for about a year from trees that were cut down. This naturally disinfects and makes the area smell good but it MUST have sat for a lengthy period of time because of its potency.
I am all for dirt floors too, especially since the deep litter method saves a lot of time and effort, plus the chooks get to scratch all they want. Question for Emily though: I have read somewhere that aromatic wood like cedar is not really recommended for bedding down, something about the fumes being harmful to the chooks’ respiratory systems or something. Cedar chips is actually a more practical option, since I could probably get it for free, as opposed to having to buy hay bales. How long have you been using cedar? Any problems so far? TIA
yep…. this is what I do…. and it has seemed to work wonders….. but I have found with a small coop, it might be a good idea to do it every 6 months……
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You might want to consider whitewashing the inside of the henhouse. http://fiascofarm.com/recipes/whitewash.html
We built our henhouse out of poultry wire covered hoops, so its a long round topped building with a plastic & shade cloth roof over 2/3 of the building….no walls to paint.
I pile small square bales of hay around 2 sides in the wintertime and leave it completely open in the summer for summer breezes and they do GREAT. The floor of the hen house is dirt, heavily sprinkled with DE and then covered with about 2 FEET DEEP hay. I rake it out 2-3 a YEAR and it works great…no smell, no bugs.
Thanks for the tips! I will have to look into the whitewashing.
Silly question, where do you put your chickens, while doing this cleaning?
I usually just lock them outside in their run. If you don’t have a run, though, I guess maybe you could lock them in a pet carrier perhaps?
We are going to receive a chinese goose and would like to add him/her to our five chickens and one turkey gang. From everyone we have asked, it would appear they will get along ok. Do you have any do’s and don’t concering the our future addition?
Hi Ronald,
I’ve yet to integrate any other bird species into our chickens, so I can’t give you any tips for sure… Good luck!
Thanks so much for your great information and your bright spirit! We need to do a lot of work on our chicken coop — your cleaning techniques are just what I needed.
My quetion is about milking goats. We’ve recently obtained our first goats and my husband has been quite deligent in preparing their “home” and getting really good feed. However, we’re not being very successful in milking. Could resistance to milking be an indication of cystitus (sp?) or something like that? Also, how high is your feed bucket from the platform of your milking stand? I think ours is too low.
Many thanks!
Roselyn- yes, sometimes mastitis (infection of the udder) can cause the animal to be sore and grouchy about milking. However- it is more likely that your goats are just being difficult.
It takes some time to get them used to milking. And sometimes they like to give a person a bit of a challenge. Keep working on it and I bet you’ll have success.
I’d have to go outside to measure, but the grain bucket is probably several feet from the stand’s platform. Probably just a little higher than chest height for the goats.
I love using white vinegar to clean almost anything.I always put hay on the clean floor so the manure wouldn’t stick to it.It also allow’s the air to circulate under the hay.If a dirt floor is used i put dehydrated lime on it to keep it smelling fresh.It also keeps down the flies.If you ever have a chicken get sickly with manure sticking to it’s feathers, feed it raw hamburger meat.A ball the size of a walnut would be enough.Do this two days and it will be fine.Also put wood ashes in its bathing areas to kill lice.Just a few hints i used in my chicken raising. Thanks!
I think this is hydrated lime not dehydrated.Sorry!
I use a deep litter system for my birds. Once a week, I scatter some lime on the floor and fluff up the straw bedding and then add a fresh layer of straw. In spring, I remove about 75% of the straw and start over from that. I still use vinegar for everything else, but this is just to maintain the floor of the coop. Google deep litter management system to find out the details. It’s A LOT easier!
Yes, I started using the deep litter method this spring as well. Definitely easier! And a lot less work too. I still like to do a spring cleaning with vinegar every so often, though.
I’ve read that people have maintained this kind of system for over 7 years without a total clean out of the floor. It’s believed that doing so, kills beneficial bacteria that keep the system going. Hence, the reserve of 25-30% of the original bottom material in the spring.
Getting cold now up in Canada, and learned the hardy breeds don’t need insulation or heat lamp, unless it dips to -20 C. Why waste electricity if you don’t have to? Biggest challenge is keeping waterers from freezing. Anyone got ideas? BTW, LOVE your site! There’s so much to learn and I am enjoying this journey with everyone here!
We have 2 hens (gave 6 away and the 4 we had left ended up being half and half) and will be adding more in the spring.
Any suggestions on adding to the flock?
Dear Jill,
I have just found your blog and I really really love it!
I live in Italy, in a little mountain village, in my grandpèarents’ home that we recently restored.
We (my hubby, my baby and me), have a small organic farm (where we grow organic vegetable and fruit ) and chicks, rabbits, gooses…. we love them!
Our goal is self sufficiency and we are working hard to get to it!
I will keep your blog between my “Farm life” bloglist!
Thanks for all the tips
Fra
So happy to have an international reader along for the ride! It sounds like you have a lovely home- hope to continue to see you around the blog!
THANK YOU for this article! We’ll soon be moving to a rental property that already has a chicken coop and barn. We are just starting our homesteading venture, and I needed to know how to thoroughly clean that coop! The bleach idea made me incredibly nervous. I already clean my home with vinegar and tea tree oil; I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that it may work in the coop as well. Thank you again!
You are very welcome Renee! Congrats on starting your homesteading journey! It’s a lot of work, but so incredibly rewarding.
Just a little caution about tea tree oil: it’s toxic to cats. Not that your cats go in the coop. Or mine. Ever. To look. Or catch mice. Or suck eggs.
Hmmm… I didn’t know that! Thanks for the info. My cats don’t go in the coop either, but it’s good to know for other applications.
I haven’t used vinegar on my coop before. It is nearly due for a good spring clean so I will try your method. I like the idea of a square ended shovel too – I was using a scrubbing brush and the shovel will be much less messy.
Oh yes- a square shovel is my best friend when I’m working on my coop! Happy spring cleaning!
I make a legendary herbal blend known as Four Thieves and mix it with vinegar. The herbs used have disinfecting qualities. In a spray bottle, it’s easy to get the sides and roof of a coop and with a bucket, the floor can be swabbed. As a bonus, it smells great! There are several different recipes for the blend floating around on the internet but basically it consists of clove, cinnamon, rosemary and lemon. I add several other herbs to mine as well.
I’ve heard of Thieves Essential Oil- wonder if it’s related?
Your blend sounds fascinating- I’m definitely going to go see if I can find a recipe!
I’m thinking of whitewashing the interior of my coop and using tung oil on the perches.
Hi, I found your post on Pinterest. I love your tips, and I can’t wait for things to warm up enough around here to give our coop a serious cleaning before we add new chicks in a month or so. I haven’t used any substances to clean it yet, but I am definitely going to be adding vinegar and tea tree to the routine, now! I mean, seriously, I use them on everything else, it seems like it should have been obvious.
There was one thing I found absent, however, and wanted to see if you might consider adding it on. I do realize this is an older post, but this is important and many people do not know about it.
There is a fungus in every chicken area, especially in the litter. If you don’t wear a mask anytime you stir up shavings or clean up poop you can inhale these fungus spores into your lungs and contract Histoplasmosis. This can make you very sick and if your immune system is weak it can cause major damage to organs like lungs, liver, etc.
It is very important to wear a simple, cheap, micro-pore dust mask whenever you are cleaning your coop. At the very least, dampen the area before stirring anything up to prevent most of the dust rising into the air. It may seem a bit silly, but it is also a very easy thing to do to prevent what can be a very serious illness. Even a mild case can later cause a serious eye disease resulting in vision loss.
Here is a good site on Histoplasmosis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002073/
Hi Juise,
I wasn’t aware of this- thanks for the info! I will look into this some more and update the post with the warning. Thanks!
Twitter: allenaim2
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I need to do this in a few weeks!! Not looking forward to it, but your clean coop is inspiring!
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Oxine is a product I had never heard of before having chickens. But when my sister’s flock developed blindness and respiratory issues, and three of her family members developed a form of Pink Eye at the same time. ..we all took note of a product sold at the local coop. Oxine does not have to be activated to be effective and the non-activated chemical has shown no health problems to animals or humans. It must come in contact with whatever it is to destroy; therefore, you delute it to 200 ppm or about 1/8th tsp per gallon of water in a spray bottle. In laboratory tests it is effective for 222 bacteria, virus and fungal applications. When I spray it in the laying boxes, coop and run; there is no more smell (bacteria creates the “barn yard” stink). Flies leave because they are no longer attracted to bacteria because it is neutralized (so less fly larva in the coop and less flies this summer). I purchased mine for about $24 a gallon plus shipping on line. I am a herbologist; but for the price, the effectiveness, the results. . .I’m choosing Oxine over my herbs this time. And for those who criticize the decision, please consider that 1/2 acre permaculture is not natural in the first place. When we homestead in small spaces, we must go the extra mile for sanitation, and we sacrifice purity. Again, I can find little to no information that leads me to believe that Oxine is dangerous when used as indicated. Just another idea to add to your arsinal of defense. BTW my sister had to destroy 18 birds before finding Oxine. . .the second set of hens that developed the same issues totally recovered in 2 days.
I have recently discovered unactivated oxine for my flock, and adding a1/8 t to a gallon of water has improved ‘droopy’ hens, and putting it in a humidifyer has cleared up some respriatory problems too- much preferable to bleach- i love the vinegar idea-
Cool, might do this before we get all our new chickies this Spring. And PS., I impulse buy diapers (cloth). Lol!
Twitter: girlinair
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This is so helpful! Thank you….
I bought 3 chickens last year on a whim from craigslist and was a little unprepared. Wasn’t to sure about these Casper winters but they are doing good and we are adding 2 chicks soon….can’t wait to give the chicken coop a good cleaning!
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Poultry industry are really been into trouble since there have been so much issue about chickens and other poultry products. This may have something to do with certain cleanliness and disinfecting the place that is why it’s been causing too much trouble. I don’t have so much idea about cleaning a poultry but I was just thinking that home remedy disinfectant may worked on it since chemicals can also be a risk over chickens.
Gosh I have been cleaning my coop out every week. lol Once a year would be great!
Used to White vinegar and was well shocked at the results. The Coop looked better than new. Just struggling with my evening visitor (rat) at the moment. Would welcome any ideas of how to kill him safely without hurting kids or chucks.
After 30 yrs. with no chickens we finally have a house full of hens + a few roosters in the mix.
30 yrs ago we used a barnyard solution which is basically if I remember correctly a coal- tar oil solution in water. Never thought of vinegar then but makes sense since we are using it for other chores. Thanks for the tip! Our girls were 4 weeks old when we threw them into the old coop.
Chicken yard is next then while they are outside finish refurbishing.