Advise on cleaning my coop

[Peeps298]

Im still new to chickens, have only had them since October and want to be sure Im keeping the coop clean and sanitary. Currently I add fresh pine shavings to the coop on a weekly basis, always provide clean water and once per month I generally remove all the pine shavings down to the bare floor and fill with new. In addition I will usually scrape the excess poop from the roost pole and wire brush it once a month. Anything I appear to be missing or any suggestions y'all have? Want to be sure Im keeping the girls house clean enough so they are happy and healthy.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[BarefootMom]

wow!

I clean mine out once maybe twice a year. The floor is mostly just chicken poo and some shavings-not many and that is about it. But they don't sleep on the floor so I am not worried about it.

 

[fl_deb]

I believe that alot of what needs to be done is determined by the structure of the coop itself and what is happenning in the coop.

Nest boxes must be kept very clean unless you don't mind poopy eggs.

Do the birds have to walk through the area where their droppings from roosting may accumulate? If so, this area of coop should be cleaned much more frequently.

Those are just two examples of where cleaning may vary, I'm sure other may have different ideas. Good luck and enjoy you chicken tv.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

You'll get a hundred different answers here. I also have pine shavings on the coop floor and a little thrown up on the poop boards. I use an old dust pan to pick up the majority of the poo off the boards. Then I pick the dirtiest spot in the coop, usually right in front of the pop door, to pick up some pine shavings to throw up on the poop board. I just kick some of the pine shavings in the spot that I removed them from. About once a week I'll add some pine shavings to the coop floor, just on an "as needed" basis. The coop floor stays relatively clean because I'm always rotating the worst of it out. I will let the shavings get low and in the another month go ahead and remove them, clean everything down, sprinkle some DE down and put fresh shavings down. I scrub their roosting bars and the ramp up to them several times a year. My nest boxes stay clean. I pick out any poo and throw fresh shavings in there when it gets kicked out. I enjoy being with my chickens so I don't mind the upkeep. It gives me a chance to observe them while I"m working. Really, it takes just a few minutes every morning to do this. I also keep my run raked so that it's not contributing to the mess. I don't have any smell in my coop and my eggs are clean except for an occasional dirty one.

 

[Peeps298]

Do any of you use dis infectants in your coops when cleaning?