Took me 3 months to figure out I was over-cleaning my coop

I was scrubbing the nesting boxes with vinegar water every single day because I thought it kept diseases away. Then my hens stopped laying and a vet friend told me the strong smell was stressing them out. Has anyone else dealt with egg production dropping from too much cleaning?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew_wood728d ago

Wait, you were scrubbing the nesting boxes every single day? That sounds like a full time job (and probably super stressful for the birds). I get wanting to keep things clean, but that much vinegar smell would drive me crazy too, let alone a chicken.

rowan2628d ago

oh man, @andrew_wood72 you are SO right about that vinegar smell. i learned the hard way that daily scrubbing just stresses everyone out and makes the coop smell like a pickle factory. now i do a deep clean once a week and just spot clean as needed, the birds are way more chill about laying.