Advice on Cleaning/Keeping them Happy?

[NewAussieChook]

Hi all,

Ive been reading through alot of the cleaning threads and finding them helpful - thank you. We're new to chooks - had them since Jan this year. I only have a small number of chooks in a suburban backyard. We have 4 pullets at the moment - and Im quite happy with that number. We have an enclosed run (too many cats, foxes, etc around here) with a coop - a bird aviary we converted.

The run is dirt, with a small amount of construction sand mixed in. I have some tree branches - they love sitting on and under these, a 'dust bucket' (for dust bathing - filled with construction sand and with a lid that keeps the water out when its raining) and their food and water in there. We have a few large rocks in there too. I can stand in the run.

The coop is smallish, I cant stand in it (my 2 year old can - just!) but I can pop my head in there. We have 2 roosts and a nesting box in there. I use wood shavings in there and straw in the nesting box.

Some questions:
1. How often should I rake out the run?
2. My chooks have been scratching around and scratch up small rocks in the dirt in the run? Should I leave these or rake them out?
3. How often should I clean out the coop?
4. My pullets wont be laying for a month or two more, we have a nesting box in there set up already. It's getting sat in and pooped in, which I know is not good. Do I take it out? How do I know when to put it in again? Or just chicken wire it off, so they can't access it?
5. What do you put in your run to keep the chooks happy and busy? I throw in a cob of corn or two a couple of times a week - they go CRAZY over the corn! Love it!

Thank you in advance for your advice and help! We love our chooks and Im very much wanting to learn the best ways to keep them happy and healthy.

 

[Judy]

I would definitely either remove the nest or chicken wire it off, whichever is convenient. I wouldn't open it again til I saw an egg.

I wouldn't worry about the rocks in the run. I think everyone has a different cleaning schedule. Really, I would go by how messy and/or smelly it gets. Of course you especially don't want ammonia building up in the coop. You can pick up a bag of pelletized lime or Stall-Dri and sprinkle it in the coop or run when you feel like it needs cleaning but don't want to do it that day. It will take out much of the smell and moisture for a short period. It doesn't take much of the lime. I've been working on my 50 lb. bag for 2 or 3 years.

 

[NewAussieChook]

Thank you Judy. Your advice is very helpful!

 

[Mrs. K]

Use your nose.... if it stinks, need to rake it out. A smaller coup needs to be cleaned a bit more regularly. But no need to get hysterically clean. I use a lot of old hay, pull the dirty hay from the coop into the run, and let them break it down and clean up the weed seed for my garden. Put clean hay in the coop and nests. Soon I will do a pretty steep clean up, putting most everything in the compost, and putting in fresh. I just give it a good sweep, I don't use clorox or scrub it all down.

Mrs K

 

[Tacswa3]

Your set up sounds similar to mine. I am new to chickens since this past December. Here is what I do and did: I blocked off my nesting boxes until they were closer to laying (kept roosting and pooping in them) I used cardboard. You should notice your pullets "squatting" as you approach when they get close to laying.

If they are not laying, in my opinion they don't need access to the coop during the day weather permitting. When I let them out of the coop I closed it up until roost time. Less time in the coop is less poop in the coop

Every couple days I scoop out the poop under the roost bars and every couple of weeks, sprinkle some food grade DE over the wood chips and rake in. I add chips when I think its needed.

I just raked my run for the first time today LOL, but plan on raking it more often for poop removal. My birds run my yard as well so they are not always in the run.

 

[Bagels006]

Question.. I'm new to all this and wondering....
Is raking out the poo in the run necessary? Our run is built on dirt and sand. Couldn't the poo just be tilled into the dirt to compost naturally? Or would that get too stinky?

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Question.. I'm new to all this and wondering....
Is raking out the poo in the run necessary? Our run is built on dirt and sand. Couldn't the poo just be tilled into the dirt to compost naturally? Or would that get too stinky?

It will eventually get stinky, especially when wet.
Adding some dry plant matter will help tremendously.

There's lot of ways to do this...here's one:
Here's a great description of contents and how to manage organic 'bedding' in a run or coop...and there's a great video of what it looks like.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037998/muddy-run-help-please#post_16017992


Here's how I do it:
I have a large walk in run and never 'clean' poops from the run,
and there is rarely any nasty odors. The bedding of a good mix of dry plant materials use facilitates this nicely, it's basically no maintenance other than adding more material from time to time. I was able to start with a big load of tree trimmings from the power company that had been aged(6 months) so I avoided the toxic molds that can bloom with fresh chippings. I collect dry leaves in the fall (stored in feed bags in a shed) and add them occasionally, and other garden trimmings. I let my grass grow tall, mow and spread it out with discharge pattern, leave it to dry a few day, then push it into rows with the mower discharge, rake it up and add to run.

 

[Bagels006]

OK. Cool. I'll just add leaves and grass clippings and stuff. Seems easy enough. Thanks.