how often do i need to clean??

[barbjess]

I'm going to disagree with some things mentioned. I have an 8x16 coop with 19 hens and 1 rooster. 2 ducks share that space also.
First off, I have a dirt floor and I use straw (hay is for horses) for bedding. I wouldn't recomend the deep litter method of piling on more bedding instead of cleaning it out as needed. I remove and refresh with new straw about every 3 to 4 weeks. 2 bales covers that space nicely. Best to add some diatomaceous earth for mites and lice along with it. The deep litter method can be a real mess when it comes time to finally clean it out especially if you have a dirt floor like I do. Its a good alternative in the winter but sooner or later you have to clean it out.
Secondly, what ever is under your roosting boards is going to get full of chicken poop. You will be surprized what they can excrete during the night hours! I get a 2 1/2 gallon bucket full every 2 or 3 days. Try putting a scrape board underneath to catch the droppings.
Thirdly, after every winter, the dander build up inside the coop on the walls, ceiling, crevices, and cob webs will be all over everything! No way of explaining it and its a remember I told you so kind of thing. If you are using heat or light bulbs, clean them frequently because of this. This dander and cobweb buildup is a good fire starter!
Last but not least, birds dig holes to dust bath in to remove mites and lice. A way of self cleanliness. You might want to get a big clay pot to put in the coop area filled with sand and once again, diatomaceous earth.
Sooo! In answer to your posted question on how often do I need to clean? Its an ongoing process that never stops!!!!!!!!!!!!

How much Diatomaceous earth do you mix in with the sand for the dirt bath? In an 18 gallon plastic tub I added about 3/4 cup of DE. Is that enough or too much?

 

[farmgirl02]

Hi!
I try to keep my coop as clean, nice, and fresh as possible. The roost should be light and airy, not stinky and dirty, so I clean it out every morning. Some people only do it once a year, which is disgusting!

 

[featherweightmn]

I say do what's best for you and your flock ability. For us, three to four inches of sand on the coop floor -has worked wonderfully! We clean it every other day like a large litter box. Our girls are happy, healthy, clean and are still putting out more eggs than we can handle sometimes -eventhough its winter. I choose not to banter back and forth about what's best for us(or others) -when what's working for us -suits us fine. However if someone can learn from what we've done so be it . . . .I call our method, The Easy Clean Method!"

 

[whittychick]

I agree...do what you think is best and needed! People kept telling me I only needed to clean the coop every month! Buttttt I decided this didn't work for me! I clean mine out every Sunday and put fresh wood chips, DE and hay! I feel better and I know my birds do too! Once in a great while ill do every 2 weeks!

 

[niamhblond]

There is one more thing you should probably know if you're just starting out don't get to attached to them at the start because they're animals and they establish a pecking order and it can get rather brutal . Also good luck and hope you enjoy. .

 

[Dee5385]

WHOA.....wait a minute....alot of the postings here are saying to clean the coop once a year or only a few times a year. Right now I have 4 hens...in a coop that says it'll fit up to 14 chickens. In any case...I'm changing their straw every weekend. I'm I doing it too much. I just don't want them to have a coop full of poo...

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Those that are only stripping the coop once or twice a year are doing deep litter method, usually with shavings. Straw doesn't work so well with that method. I do half and half, I keep a very thin layer of shavings under the roosts and I clean that out every morning. The rest of the coop stays pretty clean since they don't spend much time in there during the day and has a thick layer of shavings to which I add a new thin layer every few weeks. I do a complete cleanout spring and fall. My coops are clean and dry and the only time there is any smell is before I have done my morning cleanup.

You kind of just have to try different things and find what works best for you.

 

[lauranickerson]

In the summer I was trying a bunch of new things. I really wanted to do sand, but it just didn't work out for me. Great in theory, but I have plywood flooring (my coop is a 10x10 pole barn style coop with a slanted roof from front to back, with a second 1/2 story for storage) and where the two pieces of plywood come together, the sand slips right through like a sand timer, so the sand needed replacing every couple weeks. Plus, with ducks, having sand just made things clumpy and harder to sift through.

So I switched back to pine shavings, which is definitely dustier. When it started getting cold, I cleaned it out one last time, and I've been doing deep litter all winter and I'll clean it out in the spring. A lot of people on here said it would provide extra heat throughout the winter, but I have my doubts, since the duck poo just tends to freeze and makes all the bedding stick together. I probably have a few bales-worth of straw and hay in there right now, and I layered with shavings in there somewhere during the middle of winter just to change it up. Every few days I'll give them a few new chunks of straw.

I also used some dried leaves during the fall, which is probably at the bottom of the deep litter. I scattered that and lots of straw in the run, too. In the winter they've just been in the run, not free range like normal. But during warm months I was taking the spent bedding from in the coop and dumping it in the run to further decompose. I would spread their pellets and scratch in the run, forcing them to dig it up. I will be doing that again shortly.

Hopefully I get lots of good compost material for the pile.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

WHOA.....wait a minute....alot of the postings here are saying to clean the coop once a year or only a few times a year. Right now I have 4 hens...in a coop that says it'll fit up to 14 chickens. In any case...I'm changing their straw every weekend. I'm I doing it too much. I just don't want them to have a coop full of poo...

Thoughts? Opinions?

I'm in Northern Virginia so have the same climate and conditions as you do. I use the deep litter method and clean out twice a year at most. I have 8 hens in a 8 x 10 coop. My current deep litter has been building since Sept/Oct and - when the weather warms - I'll clean out the coop and most of the deep litter will go into the garden. I use pine shavings and leaves and most anything else organic I can find. Straw doesn't break down well for deep litter and can mold so I try not to use it in the coop. Deep litter done right in a coop with proper ventilation has no odor.

There are several threads here about using deep litter. This one is particularly good, IMO. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/643302/results-from-first-year-with-deep-litter-method

 

[JudySteele1]

Do you find that the bedding has a bad odor after a while. I've been changing the chicks bedding once a week. Also to keep feces from collecting can you use lime in the runs?