Changing out the dry den?

Carli

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How often should I change out the dry den in the coop? I have 10 chickens who spend about 12 hours a day outside. They are locked in around 7-8pm every night and go out around 8am.
 
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It will depend on how you have your coop set up as to how often it needs cleaned.
1) Are you using a poop/droppings board? If so, it can be scraped off daily or every other day to keep the smell down to a minimum
2) Are you using deep litter? If you're using the droppings board it won't get very dirty and it will only need to be cleaned once or twice a year.

Tell us a little more about your set up--or even better show us some pics!
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Hmmm...well the dry den is about 3" deep. What is a droppings board? The floor is linoleum. That's about all I can tell ya!
 
A poop/droppings board is just a board placed below the roost to catch most (if not all) the "deposits" they make each night when they roost. I scrape mine off every day or so and put the "deposits" into the compost bin. Here's a pic of my poop board:
47765_coopbeak_le_coop-15.jpg

I have 3-4" of shavings in the bottom of my coop and use a rake about once a week to fluff it up. I've added some from time to time if it seems a little "flat". Like you, I have linoleum on the floor of the coop for easy clean up whenver it has to be done--I'm thinking each fall when the garden is kaput and we can put the shavings directly into the garden.
 
Okay, so I do not have a droppings board, just the dry den. How often to change?
 
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eta: OOPS! Sorry! Just read that locked thread and didn't realize bumping wasn't allowed here. Just looking for someone to answer this question definitively. It seems the info on cleaning the coop is very random. Is cleaning the coop considered the once or twice a year bleaching? Or is it simply when you take the old dry den/shavings out and replace with new? Help please!
 
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