How often to clean coop?

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Thank you so much. Always nice to hear nice things about it.

It's a bit less than 4 feet by 4 feet I guess. The playhouse itself is never shut, so the hens come and go from it into the ChickArena (wire-walled run) that surrounds the playhouse.

The ChickArena is 9 feet by 15 feet, so that's 135 square feet. Allotting 10 square feet per standard sized hen, there's room for 13 birds for sure. The playhouse is 16 square feet. Allotting 4 square feet per standard sized hen, there's room for 4 birds. The roost board spans two adjacent walls.

I've never owned more than three birds for the whole setup until a few months ago, when someone moved out of state and gave me their two adult Delawares and their henhouse.

I somehow managed to tuck the henhouse inside the ChickArena, and the two Delawares continue to live inside it. They're both much larger than my Aracauna, Marans, and EasterEgger, (and were bullying the threesome) so now when I let the Delawares out every day, I section off a separate part of the backyard for them to freely wander around in.

I scoop the top stuff daily (sometimes I confess it takes two days) but clean it out every few months - Over the winter they say it will sort of compost and if I scoop the fresh top stuff it does not stink. I use a kitty litter scoop and the shavings fall through and the poop goes on my compost pile. I cleaned it out for winter last week so I don't have to use water to clean it for a few months. I should mention that my coop it pretty big for just 6 chickens. I (by I, I mean my wonderful husband) converted half a shed into a coop so it could be well insulated and they can perch in one area so that is the poop that gets scooped each morning. They have about a 10x6 coop and a big chicken run outside during the day.

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Mine do sleep on their poop. The will not roost. So I am trying the DLM and like another poster I am having a hard time knowing how much poop is in there, but yesterday I went in to give it a stir and was surprised at how much it had already started to break down over just a few days. I will probably clean it out more often then I need to, but at least I won't be doing it every 2-3 days. Do you have any clue how fast you can go through a big bag of compressed shavings that way? So now it has been about 2 weeks since I last changed it and there is no smell, it is dry and the chickens are still healthy!

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Mine do sleep on their poop. The will not roost. So I am trying the DLM and like another poster I am having a hard time knowing how much poop is in there, but yesterday I went in to give it a stir and was surprised at how much it had already started to break down over just a few days. I will probably clean it out more often then I need to, but at least I won't be doing it every 2-3 days. Do you have any clue how fast you can go through a big bag of compressed shavings that way? So now it has been about 2 weeks since I last changed it and there is no smell, it is dry and the chickens are still healthy!

i love it when someone tries a new/different method.............now throw diffrent types of litter in with the shavings and it will compost (breakdown) even faster, throw a few grains of corn occasionally in the litter let the hens turn it. you wont have to do hardly anything.

suggestion for your problem of hens not roosting. make sure the roost is low enuff. make sure if there are multiple roost poles that they are on the same level. the ladder method is not the best method. make sure the roosts are rounded and not flat boards b/c its more natural for a hen to grip a branch than sit on a flat board, and most importantly, go out after dark and place them on the roost. a week of "training" them they should get the idea.

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Mine do sleep on their poop. The will not roost. So I am trying the DLM and like another poster I am having a hard time knowing how much poop is in there, but yesterday I went in to give it a stir and was surprised at how much it had already started to break down over just a few days. I will probably clean it out more often then I need to, but at least I won't be doing it every 2-3 days. Do you have any clue how fast you can go through a big bag of compressed shavings that way? So now it has been about 2 weeks since I last changed it and there is no smell, it is dry and the chickens are still healthy!

i love it when someone tries a new/different method.............now throw diffrent types of litter in with the shavings and it will compost (breakdown) even faster, throw a few grains of corn occasionally in the litter let the hens turn it. you wont have to do hardly anything.

suggestion for your problem of hens not roosting. make sure the roost is low enuff. make sure if there are multiple roost poles that they are on the same level. the ladder method is not the best method. make sure the roosts are rounded and not flat boards b/c its more natural for a hen to grip a branch than sit on a flat board, and most importantly, go out after dark and place them on the roost. a week of "training" them they should get the idea.

I totally agree with putting them on after dark-I did that when they were wanting to roost in the nesting boxes. I started mine roosting when they were babies -built this tiny little freestanding roost for them--they were so cute. When I put their permanent ones in I started low. Now they roost over 6 ft in the air. My husband thought it was crazy but they all are always on the highest one.

Our roosts are about 4 to 5 feet tall, they have no problem getting on them unless it is dark, and then they fly into the roost instead of on then so we started using a light on a timer for them and it seemed to really help, it also seems to help get them inside before their automatic door closes....well most of the time. We acquired two new chickens a few weeks ago....they sleep on top of the nesting boxes and sometimes on the ledge in front of the nesting boxes...now there is always poop everywhere that I am having to clean off daily....our original flock won't let them sit on the roosts with them and we have two separate roosts made out of old trusses that were left at our house from previous owners so there are essentially two sections per each roost for them to sit on....they can be such big meanies! We also have been finding more poop inside the nesting boxes and now clean them out daily as well....I think the two new chickens may sleep in the nesting boxes sometimes but not really sure what is going on. Could the layers be pooping in the nesting boxes as well while they are in them? I couldn't see them not pooping while in them, but the poop seems to have started happening after the two new additions joined the flock....wish it would stop as it is icky!

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Sometimes I find poo in the nest box in the morning, sometimes not. Every night when I put them to bed for the night, I lay a sheet of paper towel inside the nest box, right on top of the nice clean shavings that are in there. Then in the morning I remove the paper towel. If there's poo on it, I can just chuck it. If it's clean, I use it again that night. If it's soiled, I use a fresh paper towel. Sometimes the poo is very moist and the shavings beneath the towel get wet. So I'm thinking of using something water proof under the paper towel. Not sure what as yet. Maybe a sheet of waxed paper, or a flattened plastic grocery bag, or maybe it will be enough to use a few layers of newspaper under the paper towel. We shall see...

mine did that for awhile and my nesting boxes are made so that you can close them up. I did that for a week when I shut hem up for the night. I opened them back up all the time after a week and that is all it took. My nesting boxes never have poo in them -stay clean all the time. And you are right=they can be mean-mine got to shoving the other evening all wanting to be on the end of the roost and kept shoving each other till the one on the end fell off. I think 3 got shoved off before they quit. Kinda funny to watch actually.

if there is manure in the nest boxes, then that means you have hens sleeping in the nest boxes. a bad and obvious nasty habit. i suggest you go out after dark and drag their carcass out of the box and put on roost. a number of times like this they should get the point. blocking the boxes off should help too. great idea.

ive so far never had a problem like this. as long as their is plenty of roosting area. w/o any crowding and the roosts are higher than the boxes there shouldnt be any trouble. fowl naturally want to go to the highest roostin area possible. as long as its generally under 6 ft high. ive built my nest boxes with a sloped roof where there is no room for roosting on top. i believe when there is trouble with roosting its generally b/c of overcrowding. even when there is plenty of room. the top of the pecking order can be rougher on the lower order, if there is extra space every one should find their own spot,

ive learned that having a good rooster will keep a good measure of order in a flock. there is a pecking order of course, but the rooster seems to keep the hens more or less in line, with alot less picking. and when new hens are introduced, if the newbies far out number the older residents, then the older ones are not near as hard on the newbies.