How do I keep my coop clean?

[jkelly83113]

I have tried pine shavings, I have tried straw/hay... I cannot keep the coop clean! It always has a God awful odor and the floor is always so nasty and caked! HELP! I want to keep my flock clean and well kept!!

 

[aldarita]

I have 4 coops, this is a pic of the largest one (and my favorite because it is very easy to clean). I use PDZ on the roosting boxes (which I clean every day with a scoop) Currently there are 19 adult chickens living in this coop so there is a lot of poop produced overnight and this is why I clean it every day because I figure that it is better to spend a little time cleaning it every morning than a long time every week.
I also use koopclean on the floor (it is a mixture of chopped hay/straw/PDZ) which I replace 3 or 4 times a year.
Roosting boxes and PDZ are very good to keep your coop clean, if you are building a coop take them into consideration.

 

[nparks]

I also suggest a poop board under the roost. On the poop board I use a mixture of sand and sweet PDZ and scoop it like cat liter once a day. The PDZ helps absorb the ammonia smell. It is used a lot in horse stalls. You can find it a tractor supply in the horse aisle. I mix it with sand to cut down on the amount of PDZ I use to save some money. And I usually replace the mixture once a week or so.

I will also mix food grade DE in with the pine shavings to help with the smell. You could also add the PDZ on to the floor of the coop. I've heard people use it in the run as wellto help dry up the poop and keep the smell down. Turning over the bedding in the coop daily with also help to decompose the poop. Make sure the bedding is dry and no moisture is building up.

Try to let the chickens out as early in the day as possible. The longer they are in their coop in the morning, the more poop that will accumulate. With this heat, when I'm home I keep the large doors of the coop open to help the air circulate better.

Hope this helps!

 

[tomphot]

I'm using sand in both the coop and enclosed run. Zero smell and so easy to clean. My poop board in the coop is filled with 1/4" of PDZ. 5 minutes of sifting everything once a day and the place is clean!

 

[tomphot]

I bought a horse stall rake from TSC - added 1/2" hardwire but too much small poop fell through. I then found a small piece of 1/4" and added that with zip ties. It works great, I can scoop my 400sqft run coop in 5 minutes. Keeps everything spic and span clean!

 

[Des R]

Sand! Love it! I have sand on the floor of my coop and I took a $5 toddler snow shovel and drilled a ton of 1/4" holes into. Each morning I open the coop to let them out, grab a 5 gal bucket I store under the coop and my home made kitty scooper and spend less than a minute sifting the sand under the perches, dump the poop in the bucket and tuck it back under the coop (my coop is raised 2 feet off the ground on cinder blocks to prevent mice and snakes and give the girls more sheltered area outside the coop). Easy as can be. If I'm feeling lazy I even skip a day or two. No smells what-so-ever and always make me want to go the beach.. looks like a little zen garden in the coop. The other plus is if it does happen to get wet for whatever reason (occasionally a hard sideways rain will get in thru the eaves) I just stir the sand up / flip it over an it dries in no time. They can also use it for their grit (although I still provide granite grit), dust bathing, and they eat their spilled food right out of it. So far no downsides for me at all. Good luck!

 

[Ljc01]

Try putting a board under the roasting bars, something that you can remove and wash off. Chickens do a lot of pooping when they sleep.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you have smell, I would question your ventilation. In my new coop, I have much better ventilation, and I have yet to have an odor. A chicken house should never be closed up tight, and really the more ventilation the better.

Mrs K

 

[8MerryHens]

PDZ and poop boards were the best suggestions I gleaned from BYC when researching what i wanted/needed in a coop. I use cafeteria trays on the poop boards cause my coop is not a walk-in model. It is elevated and I can easily reach in a lift the trays down to sift and clean. Even with the high temps and humidity this summer there has been no smell.

 

[josher57]

Sand!

I changed from shaving to sand and I won't go back. Easy to clean and keeps them cooler in the summer down here in the south. Scoop it like kitty litter. Plus the sand helps absorb the moisture, saving your flooring.