Best way to clean a coop?

[a123andpoof]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this...but I want to know about cleaning the coop. What is the best way to clean it? Their is 22 chicks in it at the moment, but 2 are seperated. Once they are fully grown their will be around 23-24 the coop is 10x12. for this many chickens how often should I clean it? How often do the waters and food containers need to be cleaned out? Is it okay to use dish detergent on them? And any other tips to make cleaning easy?
Thanks!

 

[Mattemma]

I do a daily clean of droppings.Not everythnig,but enough so I don't have to clean everything out weekly. Some do a deep litter method. I usually clean out the entire coop if things start to smell.

I have bleached the waterers every few weeks,but have not washed the feeder.Usually don't bleach things unless there is poo on them. As long as you rinse well detergent is fine just avoid some strongly scented ones where the scent lingers.

When I do a big clean of the chicken shed I will hose down the walls and concrete floor. Just don't ever add bleach,lol. Made that mistake once after I had rinsed ,and well you know how bleach and ammonia are toxic. Guess I did not get the floor rinsed well enough, and it started to develop its toxic fumes.

 

[elmo]

I use plastic poop trays (repurposed boot trays) under the roosts to collect all of the night time droppings. The plastic pans are light and easy to take out of the coop and dump/scrape into our composter. So easy, in fact, that I do this every morning.

I have sand on the floor of the coop and pick out the occasional dropping that lands on the floor inside the coop with a reptile litter scoop taped to a long handle so I don't have to bend over. This, too, is so easy I do this every night before locking the chickens in for the night.

I have a couple of waterers that I rotate and run right through the dishwasher, maybe once a week or so.

I use Poop Off on the roosts as needed, and once in a while I will dust off the inside surfaces of the coop. I do check under the roosts, etc. for signs of mites and clean out and replace the bedding in the nestboxes periodically (especially in summer when the risk of mites goes up).

That's pretty much it. The chickens are in some ways easier to care for than our indoor birds!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
There is no one universal best way.

It depends on your situation and your personal preferences.

I would suggest trying out different strategies til you settle on what works best for you personally. Which will be different than what works best for other people. But more relevant to your situation than someone else's solution is

Experiment. I mean, the worst that happens is you decide one approach is too much work or results in too much bedding waste or too much filth underfoot, and then you change it and don't do it anymore

Good luck, have fun,

Pat, who uses droppings boards cleaned every morning, occasionally spot-cleans, and replaces most of the bedding every year or so; but that's just me in my particular situation.

 

[a123andpoof]

Thank you everyone.
I guess I am looking more for how to clean it lol and was wondering more how to go about it.
Can anyone tell me a good way to clean up hay or straw, unfortunatly a repiles pooper scooper won't work, though i like that idea..Also anyone know how often straw needs to be cleaned in the winter to avoid frostbite and whatever else...

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

I had my teenage son do it the last time..... I'm thinking that's the best way for me.

 

[rechena]

What about, and this is going to sound wierd, cleaning the Run?
I'm asking this cause our run is not very big and we don't want it to be smelly... any tips?

Regards.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
It just depends so much on what you're doing, management-wise.

If you are spot cleaning daily, a plastic close-tined manure fork works ok (Future Fork type thing) although really shavings are a lot easier to spot-clean than straw is; or for a little reach-in coop you can use a catbox scoop or BBQ grill fork/flipper (the kind with about 8-10 thin forklike tines) or even just a glove over your hand.

If you are doing a periodic total clean-out, the aforementioned horse stall fork works best, or a square metal barn shovel; or for a reach-in coop, a wide hoe or wide drywall-taping knife can be used to just pull/scrape all the bedding out your access hatch into a waiting wheelbarrow or etc.

Also anyone know how often straw needs to be cleaned in the winter to avoid frostbite and whatever else...

It will depend totally on what your coop is like and how many chickens and all that sort of stuff. Basically you will have to just keep an eye on it, and experiment, and see what is required in YOUR situation. The idea is to avoid elevated humidity in the coop. If you see condensation or frost forming heavily on the windows, or forming at *all* on ceiling or walls, or if you have any other reason to believe there is high humidity in there, then you are somewhat past the time to clean out the coop (so, do it NOW and then next time do it a bit sooner

)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[loubapache]

For spot cleaning, I use this.

Very fast.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Hey, now you're on to something!