It's been a little while since I've written anything and to be fair I've not seen much of the new hens aside from letting them into the run in the morning and cleaning the Eglu poo tray before work! So I thought I'd post up instalments of some of the things we use to keep the run clean and fresh smelling.

We've both been regular forum readers of the great community www.omlet.co.uk have and have learned a great deal from the more experienced poultry keepers there, if any are reading, thank you!

I'll let Dave describe the run in detail in a post he will make, I'm going to describe what we have done in terms of the quick essentials we thought necessary.

We don't have a run on grass, ours is on paving slabs.

1: Aubiose
Some use hemcore or similar. What this is though is a bedding that we have spread evenly in the run so that the chickens can scratch around. It's treated and also has a slightly fresh lemony smell. It does have the amazingly useful property of being absorbant so is ideal for soaking up the chicken poo.

We also use it in the Eglu poo tray as a liner, newspaper as a liners is just as good. It can also be used in the nesting tray.
http://www.aubiose.co.uk/about.php

You can use woodchips but they can get slimey. From what we can tell you can use straw but don't use hay as it contains mould spores usually.

2: Stalosan F
This is an excellent anti almost everything that is totally harmless to the chickens. We spread this liberally around the run. Think shake'n'vac for the use. This is also extremely good at reducing smells. We buy it in 25Kg containers rather than the smaller as it's more cost effective. It's broad spectrum, destroys worm eggs, coccidial occysts, fly eggs and larvae. Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral.
I'm providing a link here but you may find other stockists.
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Stalosan_F_Disinfectant.html

3: Regime
It's early days yet, however a clean regime is the only real thing that will keep your chicken run smelling fresh, reduce chance of disease and reduce neighbour complaints.

Our plan is:
Daily:
Scoop up reachable poo.
Clean the Eglu poo tray.

Weekly:
Sweep out the run.
Hose down.
Replace the Aubiose and Stalosan F.
Deep clean the Eglu, including the roosting bars and corners etc. Replace the Aubiose and sprinkle some Stalosan F.

Al of the waste is compostable, even with the Stalosan F in although some people say it slows the process.

We haven't worked out a monthly routine yet but as our run is mainly wooden and summer is coming I'm convinced that Red Mite powder should go down every month as the breeding cycle as far as I know is 6 weekly. So the monthly routine should break that cycle.

Suggestions welcome of course!