Chickens in the city coop cleaning?

[Baruch]

Hi everyone,

I haven’t had a chicken in over a decade. I’m watching my uncle’s chickens for 10 days while they are on vacation, and it is making me reminisce about those good times.

The reason we don’t have chickens anymore is because our rooster disturbed the neighbors, so we had to get rid of all of our chickens.

However, I only want to keep hens this time.

The main concern of mine is about the clean up. We have space to build a nice coop, but the floor is brick (is this a problem?) I’m just imagining it being a problem.


Is there a system that would allow me to have chickens with easy clean up?

I’d only want 3-4 hens at most. It’s more of caring for them and letting them run outside that I enjoy. We don’t have any plants or vegetation that would risk getting eaten, and we have gates all around. Not that many predators, but they’d still need to be safe at night.

This coop is my uncle’s (I know it’s too small), but the photo is just to show the space and floor.

Ps I haven’t fully decided on getting chickens. Having a clean area is a priority, so honestly I’m leaning toward no, but I’m just hoping someone will give me a good idea on making this work cleaning-wise.

 

[Baruch]

Here’s another picture of the area

 

[Penpal]

I would lay down a sheet of vinyl flooring that would cover the area of brick and cement. I would put the coop in a spot that gets the least amount of wind, if that is possible. I would want to be able to move the coop in the shade in the summer, and in the sun in the winter. If you are going to let them in the yard, you can have the coop on the ground rather than above like the uncle's coop.

Over the vinyl I would have wood chips, possibly straw. I would enclose this area with a roof so they would have a secure run. I would also have a door that would allow me to easily clean out the run when the spirit moved me. I would let them onto the lawn to they can run around and eat salad and insects. I would have movable roost for them on the lawn so that a good deal of their daytime manure would fall onto the lawn.

 

[Baruch]

I would lay down a sheet of vinyl flooring that would cover the area of brick and cement. I would put the coop in a spot that gets the least amount of wind, if that is possible. I would want to be able to move the coop in the shade in the summer, and in the sun in the winter. If you are going to let them in the yard, you can have the coop on the ground rather than above like the uncle's coop.

Over the vinyl I would have wood chips, possibly straw. I would enclose this area with a roof so they would have a secure run. I would also have a door that would allow me to easily clean out the run when the spirit moved me. I would let them onto the lawn to they can run around and eat salad and insects. I would have movable roost for them on the lawn so that a good deal of their daytime manure would fall onto the lawn.

I don’t have a lawn. Just my front lawn, but cars pass by it, so it’s a bad idea.

I was thinking of just having a coop and letting them free run without an actual run. All my flooring is made of the same brick, unfortunately.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

If you want that area clean I wouldn’t get chickens. You will be out there hosing everything down constantly when they are out of the coop and any type of bedding you get is going to get everywhere. You could technically use like a rubber stall mat in the coop, but even then you would have to be constantly wiping or hosing out your coop.

 

[Baruch]

If you want that area clean I wouldn’t get chickens. You will be out there hosing everything down constantly when they are out of the coop and any type of bedding you get is going to get everywhere. You could technically use like a rubber stall mat in the coop, but even then you would have to be constantly wiping or hosing out your coop.

Thank you. I agree with you. It’s not a good idea because I do prioritize clean areas.

When I had chickens, I had a tarp on the bottom that I would hose off. It wasn’t difficult. I think having a pine bedding would be a pain for me because it would be annoying to remove and replace it.

Hosing it down would be fun for me. Having a giant litterbox? Nope lol.

 

[aart]

Just my front lawn, but cars pass by it, so it’s a bad idea.

So are chickens even allowed in the city where you live?

 

[The Coop Crew]

So we have chickens in town but we have the coop in dirt. I clean the coop once a week and the run whenever it needs it. We have a patch of trees behind the coop that I sweep everything into because it’s great fertilizer. Chickens aren’t clean animals unfortunately so if you are obsessed with clean spaces chickens aren’t a great pet.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I’m not sure housing them on the brick long term would be good for their feet. Our coop sits on the ground and is surrounded by pavers. It would be a lot of work, but could you pull up the brick in the area where the coop would sit? Then you could fill with sand, wood chips or whatever.
I clean the poop out of my coop and under the coop (it sits above part of their run) every day or two. It’s a pain, but it never smells (I’ve only had 3-4 chickens though).