My house is on a 1/2 acre lot with a large backyard. I used to have a clean, lush, lawn, tidy bark beds, and a clean patio. I've had chickens for 3 months now (got them at 2 days old). Three of the sweetest, most beautiful little EE pullets. My bark beds? Well, the bark is not in the beds anymore, but thrown all into the lawn from their scratching for bugs. I used to go out there daily to rake the bark back where it belongs, but that got tiring, especially now that it's cold/snowy/rainy/windy outside. My patio used to get hosed off twice a day. The girls like to hang out there by the back sliding door, and look into the kitchen to see if I'm preparing any treats for them. I can't be hosing off the patio when it's 20 degrees outside unless I want an ice skating rink. My lawn? I can't believe that 3 little chickens can produce so many "treasures". I have an Eglu Go (the small one) that gets moved around the lawn every week (every 3 days in the warm season). The grass under the run is matted down with chicken poo---and they're only locked up at night---allowed to free-range the entire yard all day!
Don't get me wrong. I love my girls and wouldn't trade them in for anything, but having them these last 3 months has been an eye opener on backyard chicken keeping. I had a couple of people warn me that the poop would be an issue, but I didn't believe it would be this bad. Like pretty much every other chicken owner however, if I had the coop space I probably couldn't resist getting more. But if 3 chickens can produce the mess that my 3 can, I just can't imagine what it would be like to have 6, 10, or more chickens! I'd be buried!
I'm not really looking for solutions here, I could pen the girls up which would keep them off the patio, out of the bark beds, keep all the poop in one area, etc., but I love them having the free range of the yard. I guess I'm here just venting on how much messier the situation is than I had imagined when I first got the chicks. I don't know if other first time chicken owners have had the same realization.
This winter will be interesting. A winter wonderland of snow outside, dotted with endless chicken droppings. Probably not postcard material
Don't get me wrong. I love my girls and wouldn't trade them in for anything, but having them these last 3 months has been an eye opener on backyard chicken keeping. I had a couple of people warn me that the poop would be an issue, but I didn't believe it would be this bad. Like pretty much every other chicken owner however, if I had the coop space I probably couldn't resist getting more. But if 3 chickens can produce the mess that my 3 can, I just can't imagine what it would be like to have 6, 10, or more chickens! I'd be buried!

I'm not really looking for solutions here, I could pen the girls up which would keep them off the patio, out of the bark beds, keep all the poop in one area, etc., but I love them having the free range of the yard. I guess I'm here just venting on how much messier the situation is than I had imagined when I first got the chicks. I don't know if other first time chicken owners have had the same realization.
This winter will be interesting. A winter wonderland of snow outside, dotted with endless chicken droppings. Probably not postcard material
