How long does it take YOU to clean your coop?

[1cutechick]

It looks beautiful, wish I had the time to clean daily, I try to do that at least weekly. What do you have on the top of your runs? It makes me think some kind of a solar top to put over one of my pens would be nice for winter. I assume you have cold and snow as we do in Wisconsin? This is my first year with chickens and I'm not sure what to do about letting them out in the pens.

 

[WeLuvRuckus]

I do a full clean once every two weeks. I use a combo of hay and pine shavings. Takes 45 minutes to an hour

 

[cinnimon]

hey!!!!! thanks for the info

 

[Pinkaboo]

My 35 hens are on deep litter in dirt floor coop (former cow shelter) 12'x20' with an attached 8'x20' fully screened run, opening onto pasture surrounded by electric poultry netting. I use dry grass cuttings for nesting material and just toss it onto the coop floor when dirtied.

Waterer is half a 50 gallon lidded food grade drum set partway into the ground inside the coop, gravity fed through a float valve from rainwater barrel and backup hose. Hens reach through 2" diam. holes drilled in the sides above water level, below the lid. I keep a couple of algae-eating aquarium fish in it. They do a good job and save me a lot of work. During the hottest time of the year I bail the tank weekly; otherwise it stays clean. If doing again I would elevate the entire tank and ask the girls to climb to a platform to drink from it. They could not scratch dust and litter into it, and I could drain it by gravity instead of bailing.

Conversion to deep litter system inside the coop changed everything for the better. No poop piling up, no smell, no flies, almost no work, and fine compost material produced. Now I just pile wood shavings from a local cabinetry shop (no pressure treated wood allowed) and the girls constantly turn it over. Sprinkle DE at feeders, waterer, and in nest boxes weekly. From time to time when my compost pile needs a boost or garden or fruit trees need mulch, I pull out a couple of wheelbarrows of old litter from the lower regions. 4 or 5 times a year I throw about 3 cubic yards of fluffy new litter below the favorite roosts and let the girls spread it out. 

Hens roost on large diameter bamboo poles screwed to the wall at various heights and locations. When roosts get dirty I replace them with new ones cut from a bamboo grove in the yard, and burn the old roosting poles. (I use an old wooden ladder suspended horizontally for chicks, and gradually raise the height. This gets cleaned and repainted for each new group.) Horizontal surfaces get too dirty too fast so I have tried to eliminate them where possible. I use a metal scraper to clean what I can't burn, always wearing a dust mask and gloves. 

Recently I added deep litter in the dirt run as well, and eliminated flies in that area. First I raked the dirt floor deeply and gave the girls a couple of days to clean out existing fly larvae in the ground. Then added wheelbarrows full of fresh cut grass (essentially green hay) and banana leaves, garden materials with all the attached roots to about 6" depth. Each week I am adding whatever fresh green material is available. Chickens LOVE it! I am now thinking of the run as a place where chickens accelerate compost production while browsing and hunting through  the green material. I created this run a year ago as a place to raise chicks safe from hawks, but it is used by all the adults when there are no chicks in residence. I can see an added benefit to having warm cushy compost for the little ones when they first come outside in January (here in south Florida).

Do you need a mask for scraping the perches? I don't wear one as it doesn't seem too dusty, I need one for the shavings though! Goodness me it can get on your chest

 

[mainechicklet]

It looks beautiful, wish I had the time to clean daily, I try to do that at least weekly. What do you have on the top of your runs? It makes me think some kind of a solar top to put over one of my pens would be nice for winter. I assume you have cold and snow as we do in Wisconsin? This is my first year with chickens and I'm not sure what to do about letting them out in the pens.

Hi,
If you're referring to my runs, those are clear polycarbonate roofing panels. Last year I only had the smaller coop/run and covered 75% of the run with heavy plastic. All winter I was shoveling the snow and ice off the plastic and out of the run. And was placing leftover pieces of OSB against the sides every time it snowed. Which as we all know was ALOT! It was semi-clear plastic but it still made it seem dark inside the run esp with the OSB sides. So this year, as we were constructing the second coop/run, I decided to install the roofing panels. They're terrific, you can see everything through them and they are water tight. So I replaced the plastic sheeting on the first run with the same. When winter is closer, we're going to build removable polycarbonate panels for the remaining roof area and the sides of both runs. The only thing I might have done differently would be to make the permanent panels adjacent to the coop a smoke color. As you can see, I haven't landscaped my back yard yet so it's very hot in the larger run. I think the smoke panels would've provided a bit of shade. I just planted a lilac in the larger run for shade and they're eating the leaves.
From the posts I've read and my own experience, most chickens don't really like snow. So if I can prevent as much snow from filling up their runs as possible, the easier my life will be and the more enjoyable their lives will be. If you want any more detailed info re: the panels, PM me. I bought mine from Viking Lumber, but you can probably order them from most larger hardware/lumber stores.

 

[LNMND]

Pinkaboo, the scraping occurs at the overhead wall plates (horizontal structural framing elements where rafters meet top of wall) in the former cow shelter that is now the chicken coop. A few light-bodied pullets roost way up there. All the rest of the hens roost on lower level round-profile bamboo poles that stay surprisingly clean, no scraping needed. I have to stand on a ladder to scrape the one spot that the girls hang out on, and the dust is coming from overhead -- so I wear a dust mask. My desire is to eliminate all horizontal poop-collecting surfaces. Husband suggests that instead, I should just clip offenders' wings.

 

[Pinkaboo]

Pinkaboo, the scraping occurs at the overhead wall plates (horizontal structural framing elements where rafters meet top of wall) in the former cow shelter that is now the chicken coop. A few light-bodied pullets roost way up there. All the rest of the hens roost on lower level round-profile bamboo poles that stay surprisingly clean, no scraping needed. I have to stand on a ladder to scrape the one spot that the girls hang out on, and the dust is coming from overhead -- so I wear a dust mask. My desire is to eliminate all horizontal poop-collecting surfaces. Husband suggests that instead, I should just clip offenders' wings.

Thank you
My husband wants me to wing clip too but I love seeing them fly about
My marsh Daisy's can really fly
The faverolles just drop!

 

[applebutter14]

for me its about an hour or a little over an hour, it depends how many times the chickens distract me!