Chicken Run Maintenence?

[desertchick3]

Does anyone have any recommendations on keeping a cleaner run and coop? I have been thinking of building a small walk-in coop so it will be easier to take care of.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing so if you put your location into your profile people can give better-targeted advice.

How many chickens do you have and how big is your current coop? We'd love to see photos of your coop and your flock.

A walk-in is often easier to maintain than an elevated coop because it's easier to reach all the corners and because the greater height is helpful for getting excellent ventilation -- which helps keep moisture and odor under control.

Here's an article you might find helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[Sally PB]

I highly recommend being able to stand up inside your coop. Your back will thank you. And possibly the top of your head. It also makes it much easier to reach all parts of the coop.

My coop is approximately 47 square feet. I have a poop board under the roost. That by itself takes care of a lot of the cleaning: Chickens poop a lot at night, and it all ends up on the poop board. I use sweet PDZ on the board, and it absorbs the moisture and ammonia. My coop does not smell at all, unless one of the hens has just dropped a cecal poop. I can clean the poop board with a kitty litter scoop in about a minute.

I have about 4" of pine shavings on the floor, so whatever poop falls on the floor dries out and doesn't smell. If I see a chunk, I scoop it up. Otherwise, I clean the poop board and call it done.

The run is dirt with a lot of organic matter on it. Leaves in the fall, buckets of weeds in garden season. The chickens love to scratch through it. That and their poop make it break down into black gold, aka, compost for the garden.

Once a year, I scoop out a lot of compost from the run. Then I empty the pine shavings from the coop into the run. New shavings in the coop, and the cycle begins again.

 

[desertchick3]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing so if you put your location into your profile people can give better-targeted advice.

How many chickens do you have and how big is your current coop? We'd love to see photos of your coop and your flock.

A walk-in is often easier to maintain than an elevated coop because it's easier to reach all the corners and because the greater height is helpful for getting excellent ventilation -- which helps keep moisture and odor under control.

Here's an article you might find helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Thank you for the article and advice, I will upload pictures soon. I live in the Mojave desert. In the summertime, it reaches around 80°F-100°F and 40°-60° in the winter. Sorry for the trouble.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you for the article and advice, I will upload pictures soon. I live in the Mojave desert. In the summertime, it reaches around 80°F-100°F and 40°-60° in the winter. Sorry for the trouble.

It's no trouble. We love helping people with their chickens the way people helped us when we were new.

 

[desertchick3]

Our run is 24'x12'. We have two coops inside - the smaller coop (Picture 2) and the large coop (Pictures 3,4,6) We've had some situations with ants, and we've tried cinnamon, Diatematious earth, boiling water, digging up the nest, and many other things. The ants are attracted to the water (Which we need a lot of to keep our girls cool) and the food. We also found out that our chickens had mites. We treated the big coop and the run with diatomaceous earth. None of the hens sleep in the big coop anymore. We have not seen any mites on the hens, inside the coop, outside of the coop, or anywhere, so I am not sure if the colony has gone away yet. Almost all of the chickens sleep in the smaller coop. It's around 4'x4'. They don't look comfortable. Could there be a possible reason they're not sleeping in the big coop? Thank you for all your help, it's greatly appreciated!

 

[desertchick3]

I forgot to add that our rooster sleeps in the tiny coop. Could this have anything to do with the hens sleeping in the tiny coop?