Coop cleaning

I use deep litter method, and I have been cleaning every 6 months but trying to make it last a year. I have poo boards that are cleaned regularly. When I clean my coops, I put the dirty litter in the run, It works great for cleaning up a mucky run and The chickens turn in into compost.
 
I clean out the coop every yr or two in the spring for fertilizer for the garden. Deep litter no poop boards. Dry,no smell no piles, they stir it up.
I use lots of fall tree leaves and sawdust from cutting firewood both free, for bedding.
 
I do some cleaning everyday. Never let poop build up. Use pine shavings and hay for bedding. Clean poop out every morning and add new bedding. Wipe down windows and walls to get rid of dust and cobwebs. It may sound like alot of work, but really isn't. It takes about 15 minutes including feeding and watering. I usually replace or refill waterers everyday.
 
My goodness there are a lot of ways to do things. My coop is a repurposed pole shed with metal siding and dirt floor. It's far from water or electricity, until the irrigation canal gets turned on about the middle of May. As soon as I have water from the hose, I move everything out, shovel out all the deep litter (pine shavings and dry hay), lock out the hens, and hose everything down inside. It dries real fast that time of year. This year I am thinking of whitewashing with DE like somebody suggested on here. I'll clean it out again in the fall right before they turn the water off on September 30.

I don't have poop boards but I scoop up the poop every morning with a hand rake and a tiny dust pan, unless I get there too late and they have scratched it in. I put it into a cart which, when full, gets dumped on the compost pile. Some of the bedding goes out with it. One hen lays a thin shelled egg that sometimes gets broken in the nest. When that happens, I dump the entire nest box bedding out into the coop and replace the nest box with new. So there is some bedding turnover all the time.

Outside in their secure 18X18 run I throw weeds, wood chips, pine needles, whatever there is. We have had the rainiest winter in history here in Oregon and it worked pretty well to keep their feet somewhat less muddy. The people on here helped me out when it got so stinky, it was disgusting. A gal suggested to turn it over, and I do periodically. They all wait around for the worms underneath. Sometimes one gets a forkful of decomposing vegetable matter accidentally dumped on her when she dives for a worm. Doesn't seem to mind. I don't know when I'll ever clean that out. They've got another compost pile in their huge run. That run is strung across the top with nylon line to discourage the hawks, but it is not predator proof. It's more to keep them off the deck and landscaping.

This has worked for me, and I'm very grateful for the advice from people on here about deep litter in the run; it worked really well during this winter of nonstop rain. Can't imagine what it would have been like to just have dirt (mud) in that run. They do have a covered area (we call it their lanai) outside the pop door. I keep that raked up and separated from the deep litter by some logs. It's still raining but it has to stop eventually, right?
 
I clean my hens out every 2-3 days. The coop needs to be cool and aird but with no drafts coming in! I us wood chipping as it is the least attractive to RED MIGHT! I scrub it down tough about every 2 months.
 

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