We have a flock that we share with a couple of friends and we are at odds over how often to clean the yard/coop/feeder & waterer. I would love to hear from some other chicken owners about how often they clean (or feel it is necessary to clean) their chickens' areas.
The details:
7 chickens (all girls) in a coop designed for 9 chickens. They have a large run - probably 15'x15'. Mostly they are Minorcas. We live in the Pacific Northwest and this is a young flock - the girls were just chicks this spring. We have never had any health issues with any of them.
The opposing parties:
My husband and I favor the 'deep litter' method, allowing our girls to scratch around in a deep bed of litter that gets forked out every few months. Clean their food and water supplies every week or two, and tidy up their coop every two weeks or so - as it needs it. Then do a yearly deep clean of the yard and coop with scrubbing and so on. We are not sure how we feel about bleach. ((This is a method that many of our area chicken keeping friends employ with great success)
Our chicken sharing friends (they have big dogs and a small yard so we decided to share a chicken yard in our space) - I would describe them as 'Neat Freaks'. They want to clean out all the straw in the coop once a week, sweep the yard bare and clean every 2 weeks, and clean & bleach the food and water things every week. They fear foot injuries, and all forms of chicken maladies.
I'm sure that neither of us is absolutely right nor absolutely wrong and I would love to hear other people's experience of various programs of chicken-area-cleanliness.
Thanks!
Taylor
The details:
7 chickens (all girls) in a coop designed for 9 chickens. They have a large run - probably 15'x15'. Mostly they are Minorcas. We live in the Pacific Northwest and this is a young flock - the girls were just chicks this spring. We have never had any health issues with any of them.
The opposing parties:
My husband and I favor the 'deep litter' method, allowing our girls to scratch around in a deep bed of litter that gets forked out every few months. Clean their food and water supplies every week or two, and tidy up their coop every two weeks or so - as it needs it. Then do a yearly deep clean of the yard and coop with scrubbing and so on. We are not sure how we feel about bleach. ((This is a method that many of our area chicken keeping friends employ with great success)
Our chicken sharing friends (they have big dogs and a small yard so we decided to share a chicken yard in our space) - I would describe them as 'Neat Freaks'. They want to clean out all the straw in the coop once a week, sweep the yard bare and clean every 2 weeks, and clean & bleach the food and water things every week. They fear foot injuries, and all forms of chicken maladies.
I'm sure that neither of us is absolutely right nor absolutely wrong and I would love to hear other people's experience of various programs of chicken-area-cleanliness.
Thanks!
Taylor