IPM trials continue with the empty period steps.
During the empty period, the henhouse should be cleaned thoroughly. This means dry cleaning the facilities at first, followed by a thorough wet cleaning with hot water and soap and finally a disinfection. Studies illustrated that using soap eradicates a lot more mites than using water alone. Be caredul that the cleaning products don't interfere with preventive treatments (for example, do not use silica or insecticide if you plan to use predatotrs). For the cleaning of the house, the following steps should be followed :
- Remove manure
- Remove all clustered manure residues (scraping)
- Dry clean house
- Clean with compressor
- Clean heat exchanger
- Dry clean hen house second time
- Clean ventilation duct
- Clean aeration tubes
- Clean manure belts
- Clean central manure belts
- Clean egg belts with high water pressure
- Remove all dirt from the house
- Clean whole house with steam cleaner
- Let everything dry
- Clean manure container/pit
- Disinfect after drying
After the cleaning and disinfection, monitoring traps are set up in the farms. Finally, for the pilot farms using predators, a first release will take place a couple of days before pullets delivery. For the pilot farms using silica, a silica treatment will be done before arrival of the hens