# Loft Disinfectants?



## cbx1013 (Aug 12, 2009)

Hey All:

What products are you using for general loft cleaning and disinfecting? 

I scrape and clean every 1-2 days. I usually use a little bleach and water on messy spots, or wet areas in the nest boxes. My general loft floor is painted plywood... it gets scraped, then swept. I put down a little DE and maybe some PDZ. That's it.

The breeder section has 2" of wood-pellets, like you'd use for horse bedding or pellet stoves. It absorbs the droppings, and breaks down over a couple of month period- at which time it's replaced. I clean clumps of droppings out of it daily with a pitchfork, or cat litter scoop.

What I'm wondering is- is there something better than bleach water? In Foy's I see "Loft Disinfectant" or Sani-Coop, or Oxine AH. I'm looking for something safer for the birds, and more effective if possible.

What about drying agents, and acidifiers? Products like Sani-Loft, or Belgium White? Any benefit?

Thanks!

cbx


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Bleach water doesn't disinfect soiled areas. It has to be cleaned first. I like Tek-Trol. It cleans and disinfects, and the smell doesn't bother the birds. Belgium white or any of those drying agents are great. Keeps it dry and you only use very little.


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## SouthTown Racers (Jan 14, 2009)

From what I understand, Virkon-S is the best disinfectant.


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## ERIC K (Mar 29, 2010)

Virkon-S kills everything . I 've used it to clean the shipping baskets . You can order it from Pipestone Vet clinic's web site . I got the small bottle of the tablets. McLaughlyn loft put it in the water to kill bacteria and virus.


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## Big T (Mar 25, 2008)

This article has been around for a while and I do my loft once a month after a good cleaning. I think it works.

Tony

You can make your kitchen a cleaner, safer place and fight bacteria, without exposing yourself and your family to toxic chemicals that also damage the environment. You can use a simple safe disinfecting spray that is more effective than any of the commercial cleaners in killing bacteria. As a bonus, it is inexpensive! 
Susan Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, worked out the recipe for just such a sanitizing combo. All you need is three percent hydrogen peroxide, the same strength available at the drug store for gargling or disinfecting wounds, and plain white or apple cider vinegar, and a pair of brand new clean sprayers, like the kind you use to dampen laundry before ironing. If you're cleaning vegetables or fruit, just spritz them well first with both the vinegar and the hydrogen peroxide, and then rinse them off under running water. 
It doesn't matter which you use first - you can spray with the vinegar then the hydrogen peroxide, or with the hydrogen peroxide followed by the vinegar. You won't get any lingering taste of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, and neither is toxic to you if a small amount remains on the produce. As a bonus: The paired sprays work exceptionally well in sanitizing counters and other food preparation surfaces -- including wood cutting boards. In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner. 
The best results came from using one mist right after the other - it is 10 times more effective than using either spray by itself and more effective than mixing the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in one sprayer.


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## cbx1013 (Aug 12, 2009)

Big T said:


> In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.


Tony:

That's crazy... what a great, inexpensive solution. I'll give that a try. Thank you-

cbx


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Big T said:


> This article has been around for a while and I do my loft once a month after a good cleaning. I think it works.
> 
> Tony
> 
> ...




Tony, do you spray the 2nd one on right after the first one, without wiping in between?


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