Why didn't I think of this before I painted my run white!

I fashioned my coop and run after the all white beautiful Coop Deville coop I saw on Backyard Chickens. (check it out if you haven't seen it) I use sand in my run. My coop/run was so beautiful until the chickens started making dust baths and now the white boards at the base are a tee total mess. OK yes I should have known. But all the pictures of chicken runs painted white all looked so beautiful. I am trying to think of a way to hide the sand coated base boards on the outside. I have thought of just painting the base boards a dark sand color. Anyone have any suggestions. I know it's a chicken run. Messy is something that chickens do well. Maybe everyone with a white chicken run uses litter in the run.

My chicken coop has metal panels on the outside where it is connected to the run. (Because we repurposed an existing shed). There's not enough shade in the summer, and it got so hot inside that I painted the outside walls and the roof white to cool things down. Now in the winter they are quite disgustingly muddy, but I wash it off. Or at least I will when it warms up a little.

Any time I see a picture of a pristine chicken dwelling, I figure they must have way more fastidious birds than mine, who cheerfully shoot poop all over the place and manage to stir up a thick layer of dust over everything in no time.

Welcome to BYC!!

Coop Deville is a pretty common name, got a link?
.......or, better yet, post pics of yours?

Chickens are dirty/dusty, keeping things 'pretty' and/or 'clean' is difficult.
Many a 'clean-a-holic' has been frustrated with this aspect of chickeneering,
hoodwinked by the plethora of lovely photos of pristine chicken coops/runs,
(photos often taken before any chicken has been anywhere near it),
and are horrified when Romance is Crushed by Reality.

Probably any litter used in the run will soil your white paint.
What is your climate/location?
Putting your location in your profile can help folks give batter answers/sugggestions

I feel better...Thx.

Flock Master...here is the link to the Coup Deville....mine looks practically the same.Well it did before the chickens moved in I am in NC and I am loving being a backyard chicken keeper. My six girls are so, so sweet and a joy to watch. I let them free range about an hour before dusk. We have hawks so they are in the run except for that hour when I stand out there with them.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/lake-norman-coop-de-ville

aart said:

Welcome to BYC!!

Coop Deville is a pretty common name, got a link?
.......or, better yet, post pics of yours?

Chickens are dirty/dusty, keeping things 'pretty' and/or 'clean' is difficult.
Many a 'clean-a-holic' has been frustrated with this aspect of chickeneering,
hoodwinked by the plethora of lovely photos of pristine chicken coops/runs,
(photos often taken before any chicken has been anywhere near it),
and are horrified when Romance is Crushed by Reality.

Probably any litter used in the run will soil your white paint.
What is your climate/location?
Putting your location in your profile can help folks give batter answers/sugggestions

Click to expand...

Oh, that is SO me!! The visions I had in my little pea brain. Painted the inside of my coop white. It was so bright and cheerful and I was going to have Coca Cola chickens. You know, I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony? Yeah, they didn't learn that song, and I don't have the lap chickens I thought I'd have. Then they moved into their flawless coop. You know, it's kinda like owning nice house and renting it out to teenagers as their first "adult experience." Sounds great, but reality is ugly. So is my white coop! I have yet to figure out how chickens can get chicken poop spattered on the wall above the window, which is above the roosts, which are above the nests, which are above the floor. <sigh>

But you know what? The chickens don't care. And after a few months I didn't care anymore either. They were healthy, they did chickeny things and now I have a lovely coop with a gray/brown interior. I just pretend I painted it that way. I use deep litter, and that can get pretty dusty in the summer too. If you wait long enough, the whole coop will be the same color again.

Here is one RIR drinking next to the muddy wall

All coops are gray in the end, regardless of their starting point. I enjoy the birds as they are, and don't worry about it. The birds are beautiful, and the coop is grubby. Mary

Ah, so true,

My coop started life as a repurposed small horse shed.

Nice cedar plank walls.

The first year after introducing the birds, the beautiful walls were poop stained horribly.

I spent hours cleaning and scrubbing to get them back to their original condition.

I then had the brilliant idea to cover the walls with used feed bags.

Surely it would be easier to just change out the bags, right?

That was 9 years ago, the same bags are still on the pristine walls...

The colored patterned bags blend well with the poop stains.

Looks much the same 9 years later as it did 6 months after they were installed.

After reading This I am truely glad I didnt take the time to paint the inside!! Its an old metal shed so a little rusty and all grey.
The outside is white but I wont feel so bad when it gets dusty now.