Cleaning/disinfecting for new chicks

[BDutch]

Cleaning and sanitizing can help keep your flock healthy.

Simple cleaning yes. Im not sure at all about the need of sanitising if you have a healthy flock.
I wonder if this is a feeling or something you have read in a research.

 

[horror_trashcan]

To everyone, I have already put the chicks in, they are doing fine as of now. These are not my first chickens but I did not plan on having to brood more in the same area hence why I am unsure about parts of it. They will be 3 days old at 5am and I will add a layer of pine today when the sun comes out, there is no smell and only water from where they knocked over their container. (I am replacing the waterers in the morning I did not have anything small enough that they wouldn't fall into thus they knock it over instead.)

I had rats all my life and my brain connects the two with their sensitive respiratory systems, this is why I thought it may need more cleaning/sanitizing but I see now the brooder wasn't that bad so it was unnecessary at the moment. Rats also tend to have a much smaller living space than they truly need- leading to more cleaning, again why I may have been more concerned than needed.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I had rats all my life and my brain connects the two with their sensitive respiratory systems, this is why I thought it may need more cleaning/sanitizing but I see now the brooder wasn't that bad so it was unnecessary at the moment. Rats also tend to have a much smaller living space than they truly need- leading to more cleaning, again why I may have been more concerned than needed.

Makes sense. I did cleanouts of my rat cage every 3 days, vs an annual coop cleanout for chickens. While birds have sensitive respiratory systems as well, rats seem far more prone to issues even with constant cleaning and careful management of their litter.

 

[Debbie292d]

Simple cleaning yes. Im not sure at all about the need of sanitising if you have a healthy flock.
I wonder if this is a feeling or something you have read in a research.

I do sanitize incubators and brooders between batches just because we've never had a disease here and hope to keep it that way. It's just as easy to use something that cleans and sanitizes at the same time, rather than just one or the other. I'm sure there are a few products that can do that, but Odoban is used in hatcheries, and that's what we use.

I also soak the shipped eggs for a minute in the solution prior to incubating as well. Maybe overkill, but I just don't want to be the cause of some disease hitting my flock.

 

[BDutch]

I am replacing the waterers in the morning I did not have anything small enough that they wouldn't fall into thus they knock it over instead.)

I never used special chick water containers but a sturdy rather flat glass bowl and put marbles in it. The chicks cant drown in it that way.

I had rats all my life and my brain connects the two with their sensitive respiratory systems, this is why I thought it may need more cleaning/sanitizing but I see now the brooder wasn't that bad so it was unnecessary at the moment. Rats also tend to have a much smaller living space than they truly need- leading to more cleaning, again why I may have been more concerned than needed.

Please be careful with the rats. Once I lost 2 chicks to a rat who got through the fence. 1 missing and the other dead with a wound in the neck.
The 6 remaining chicks al got infected with something that caused respiratory/sneezing problems. All chicks healed within 6 weeks and without medicines.

 

[igorsMistress]

Simple cleaning yes. Im not sure at all about the need of sanitising if you have a healthy flock.
I wonder if this is a feeling or something you have read in a research.

Research and my own experiences. Anyway, have a nice day.

 

[BDutch]

Research and my own experiences. Anyway, have a nice day.

Is this research made for the chicken industry or small scale chicken hobbyists? Please post a link here.

 

[horror_trashcan]

I never used special chick water containers but a sturdy rather flat glass bowl and put marbles in it. The chicks cant drown in it that way.

Please be careful with the rats. Once I lost 2 chicks to a rat who got through the fence. 1 missing and the other dead with a wound in the neck.
The 6 remaining chicks al got infected with something that caused respiratory/sneezing problems. All chicks healed within 6 weeks and without medicines.

I do not have rats anymore, I am talking about pets not pests.
I am also just using small containers although they are plastic, I will be using a glass container when they are big enough. They are just too short at the moment.

 

[igorsMistress]

Is this research made for the chicken industry or small scale chicken hobbyists? Please post a link here.

I don’t think it matters if you’re a hobbyist or a large scale producer. Diseases don’t discriminate.

I will have to post links later, busy day but I will get back to you.

 

[BDutch]

I don’t think it matters if you’re a hobbyist or a large scale producer. Diseases don’t discriminate.

I think it matters a lot. In the chicken industry where so many chickens, have so little space and live together with thousands in one stable, is much more vulnerable to spread diseases.

Its factory farming where the high contagious bird flu started. Not at places where back yard chickens live. An infection with HPAI kills most birds in a chicken stable. But only part of a flock in a more natural environment with lots of space and fresh air.