WASH DOWN AND TERMINAL DISINFECTION PROGRAMME

Cleaning a poultry house, properly when the chickens have left is very important - disinfect a chicken house with  powerful disinfectants or chemicals to clean correctly. Cleaning a chicken house is not a quick, or easy task - it needs to be done thoroughly and methodically. You will also need to allow time for the structure and equipment to dry out and this can take about a week in most cases.

Wash down

It is important to ensure that the inlets ( fans and vents ) have been cleaned thoroughly from the outside before clearing the inside.

Shell

Thoroughly wash inside of the house with plain water using high pressure fan jet lances. It is important to work from the apex to the floor. Begin by clearing the ridge flaps thoroughly using the 2 metres lances and then gradually work down to the floor. It is important to work the lances to achieve a clean surface. This will involve covering any one surface a number of times.

A special effort must be made to clean the bell drinkers and top of trusses Water pipes etc.

Floor

1. Floor use squeegees / brooms to clear the floor of residual slurry / water and dispose of this into containers or drainage ditch to enable safe removal from he site. Clean the floor using the 1 metre high pressure lances ( it will be necessary to re-clean the lower parts of the walls and poles during this process).
2. Ensure that the gable end plinth and wall are thoroughly washed down and give special attention to the bottom of the flaps and side curtain where applicable.
3. Once the house has been thoroughly cleaned the feeding equipment and pen partitions are to be replaced in the house and baffles replaced where applicable.
4. Note : It is important that any slurry being washed out of a farm is contained, and prevented from contaminating natural water courses. Remove sludge from traps and clean the outside drains.

Control room

1. Use vacuum cleaner / blower to dust out panels.
2. Thoroughly wash the floor and dwarf wall using detergent and rinse with plain water.
3. Water system - Biofilm stripping
4. Chemical stripping of the drinker lines with stripper. This is only to be done when necessary.
5. This may commence as soon as the birds are out.
6. Note :Lines must be very thoroughly flushed after this operation to remove bio film.
7. This does not take the place of water line disinfection which must always be carried out after chemical stripping.

Water system cleaning

To be carried out by farm staff between wash down and disinfection.

a) Drain the header tank to a suitable level and physically clean the inside of the header tank, disconnect pipes and filters to remove any bio film.Flush the dirty water from the tank via the drainage hole in the tank ( or by means of a siphon pipe when the drainage pipe is above the bottom of the tank). This procedure may be carried out at any stage but the following MUST be carried out after wash down but prior to disinfection.

b) Rinse the header tanks and pipes with fresh water and re-assemble the system.

c) Premix the water line disinfectant, place in the header tank and make up to 200 Litres (to get the correct dilution).

d)  Set the water inlet valve on each drinker line to "flush" mode. Drain each drinker line individually via the flush valve at the end of the drinker line until the water line disinfectant appears (a coloured solution or foam is visible) and then close. Activate each drinker, by brushing with a clear disinfected broom, to flush with waterline disinfectant (in the flush mode water should spurt out of each drinker).

e) Leave water line disinfectant solution in the lines for one to three hours then flush the lines with fresh water.

f) Use a brush to re-clean the inside of the header tank after soaking with water.

Find a good chemical to clean, there are disinfectants on the market specifically for poultry farms. When cleaning a poultry house the most important thing is to disinfect a chicken house. This is not just a matter of rinsing or wiping the house and equipment down - it means scrubbing properly. A high pressure sprayer may be used on most of the poultry equipment - but not on the heaters, fans and motors. You will need to get up a ladder and do the beams and roof trusses. Don't forget about the curtains - these are quite difficult to clean properly - the sprayer should help. Make sure you get in between the curtain and the side walls. (This is often where rats will have made nests - if you are lucky your curtains will not have been chewed!). The chicken drinkers, poultry feeding systems and the nipple drinking systems should be thoroughly scrubbed - as well as the pan feeding systems, pan feeders, nipple drinkers. After cleaning a chicken house it should be allowed to stand for at least a week so as to dry out properly - damp and wet is where viruses and bacteria thrive - after a week of drying the disinfectant should have worked it's magic, and the structure and equipment should be bone dry. If it is very wet weather it may take longer - you may have to use your heaters and fans to complete the process. Under no circumstances should the chicks be placed if there is any moisture in the house.