cleaning the coop

[Kris Engstrom]

This is a basic question, but I am brand new to chickens. I have learned that chickens poop everywhere, even in the nesting boxes. How often to I clean it out, and what do I do with the poop? Can I put it on the garden or the flowers or compost bin?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

What is your coop like? They should not be pooping in the nest box unless they are sleeping in there, and they should not be sleeping in the nest boxes. How old are they?

 

[Kris Engstrom]

What is your coop like? They should not be pooping in the nest box unless they are sleeping in there, and they should not be sleeping in the nest boxes. How old are they?

I just bought three 6 week old chicks and put the bedding in the "house" that I bought and put together...under the roosting bars on the floor that is a drawer that comes out, and in the boxes...as the store lady told me to do. Of course they sleep in the house where the nesting boxes are.

 

[lcwmt]

One way to block off the nesting boxes in the pre-made chicken "house" is to fill the area with cardboard egg cartons: keeps the chicks out, the area clean, is easy, prepaid and reversible when you are ready.

 

[Kris Engstrom]

One way to block off the nesting boxes in the pre-made chicken "house" is to fill the area with cardboard egg cartons: keeps the chicks out, the area clean, is easy, prepaid and reversible when you are ready.

So these first two nights they have been huddling in the boxes and I have to force them out to the run in the morning....where will they sleep and huddle if not in the boxes?

 

[barred2rock]

I just bought three 6 week old chicks and put the bedding in the "house" that I bought and put together...under the roosting bars on the floor that is a drawer that comes out, and in the boxes...as the store lady told me to do. Of course they sleep in the house where the nesting boxes are.

It would be best if you block off the nest boxes until they're roughly 16 weeks old. Make sure the roost are the highest point they can get to. It'll encourage them to roost rather than sleeping in the nest boxes or on the floor.

You can put the poop into the compost, it'll need to rest a few months before going in your garden, otherwise it could burn the roots. Or you can compost it right there in the coop and/or run with the deep litter method.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

It sounds like you have one of those prefab coops where the roosts are at floor level basically. Am I right?

 

[lcwmt]

So these first two nights they have been huddling in the boxes and I have to force them out to the run in the morning....where will they sleep and huddle if not in the boxes?

What is working for us and our pullets is "cubbies" on the ground level. We started with rubbermaid bins placed on their side, with shavings or straw. The girls like the shelter and to sleep/huddle. Now that it is very hot in the afternoon, they have white wooden boxes, same situation but these don't absorb heat they way the black bins do.
Even when the girls have free range privileges they come back to the coop or run and nestle in the cubbies. They are 15 weeks old now.
When we started them in their coop we placed them on their roosts at night. They learn quickly.

 

[Fluttering-about]

It sounds like you have one of those prefab coops where the roosts are at floor level basically. Am I right?

I'm not sure about Kris, but I have a prefab coop. there isn't even enough room to put in a roost.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

My brooder coop is similar to this one. In the second and third little pictures you see two white lines, those are the roosts, about an inch over the bedding pan :/ They are essentially at the same level as the nest boxes so I expect anyone who actually used it for grown birds would have birds sleeping in the nest boxes.