Yep, you heard it right! We have 21 brooder rooms in our Brooder Department. We spend quite a bit of time keeping our rooms in perfect condition. The cleaning and sanitizing process takes place 3, 4, or even 5 days a week and each area can take several hours to clean, sanitize, and dry out. Depending on the size of the room, the drying process can be anywhere from 4-8 hours. Luckily, the brooder crew has a 2nd shift so we can be washing in both the day and evening hours. Let me detail the process for you:
- We hook up the pressure washer to a vehicle and take it to the room that needs washing.
- Supplies needed include hoses, pressure washer guns, kerosene for hot water, disinfectant foam, backpack for guns, and a jetter which helps if we get a clogged drain.
- Now its time to set up the pressure washer.
- We start at the ceiling, then move to the fans, feed and water systems, walls, floors and any equipment on the pad outside the door.
- Our next step is to start all over again with a new gun to apply the disinfectant foam and cover the room like a foam party!
- The last step is to allow the room to dry before putting down shavings and straw.
When we are starting the chick hatching season in spring, we pressure wash the A Room, use our foaming disinfectant on the room and equipment and make sure it is dry before we add the shavings and straw to the floor. Once the birds are old enough to go into a B Room, we wash, foam, let the area dry and set up the B room. Then we open a door and give birds a chance to move over, by themselves. We are so proud when they choose to move to the clean and ready room on their own! But, some birds are stubborn, so when time is available we give them a day to transition before we have to get involved in catching them individually or encouraging the groups of stragglers to move to their brand spanking clean living quarters. Then the door is closed and we start the cleaning process all over again in Room A.
Please enjoy an informative video from our website, describing our brooder barns. We hope you will “Like” our Facebook page and tell us about other topics that interest you. Your success is our success!
