I try and do this four times a year (in addition to weekly poo cleaning and routine montly cleaning/poweder disinfecting/Diatomming) The deep clean involves removing everything, and then doing a full dose of Poultry Shield. When it's all dry, everything gets Diatommed.
I did the large shed a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't done the other coops on the allotment. I've been waiting for good weather, so everything can get dry quickly.
A couple of years ago I invested in a large pressure sprayer, and that has been great. The only downsides are that the nozzle clogs ( because I use water from a water butt), and it has to be refilled several times. I've got round the clogging by carrying spare nozzles, so I can switch them and carry on.
I had thought about getting a knapsack type sprayer, but they seemed a lot of money. (Especially as I was using a hand sprayer - the sort for misting plants - at the time I first looked).. However, with a number of coops to do in one go, I decided to look again. I bought one, and it arrived in time.
I had to tighten everything up before using it, but it worked like a dream. I wasn't sure how much water to put in. It holds 16 litres, but I knew that would be too much (from the calculatin of how much Poultry Shield would be required). In the end, I put in 12 litres.
It was great. A bit awkward to get on, on my own - fortunately DH was around. Once on, it was very straightforward. I didn't need to refill it, it didn't clog, and the job was done very quickly.
It tool about 2 hours at the allotment to do everything (including putting everything back afterwards). When I got home, I started on the Cube. I pressure washed it first, then I pressure washed the panels of the walk in run. Then I pressure washed the algae off the rain cover. Then I pressure washed the mezzanine level. After that, spraying with poultry shield only took a few minutes.
Thank goodness that's done.
I'll have to do the broody cube later. But that can wait - as long as it's ready before the chicks start to use it.
