Cleaned the coop Been a Year

[Bookworm chick]

I clean mine out spring and fall with "poop management" in between. It stays dry and no odor either.

 

[Kudzu]

One thing is for sure chickens hate things to be changed.

You got that right. We have been winterizing our coop. It seems like we would make a change and it would create another problem. As of today, I think we got everything fixed and ready.

We had an open coop/run with one solid wall. We enclosed the two sides (about 6-7 feet, it is roofed) and we now have a three sided coop with a large run. Well, our roost has always been high and I think enclosing the sides screwed their depth perception up. After a couple of days of flying off the roost we had a few "sprained ankles". Well darn, we lowered the roost and a couple fell off. We modified the roost and time will tell..................Every time someone tells me how lucky I am to have free eggs I crow.

 

[kelidei]

Quote:
I'd go broke I have 3 coops & there bigggggg!!!

Me too! I was just thinking the same thing... I usually clean em out 2 x a year... in the spring and then late fall... seems to stay fresher in the winter ... must be the "refrigeration"

In between I just add fresh shavings as needed and pick up what poop I see and then stir up the bedding once a week....

 

[gryeyes]

Y'know, I don't even spread the new shavings - the chickens do that just fine by themselves!

I bring in a new bale and dump it in whichever part of the coop (17 X 22 former garage) seems to be the lowest. By the next morning, the flock has scratched it all out fairly evenly.

Fifty some chickens of all ages, from 10 week old chicks to the 2 year old dominant rooster, plus 6 adult ducks, 4 ducklings, and a pair of Toulouse geese manage to spread the pine shavings very well.

And I don't clean OUT the coop at all. I scrape off accumulated poop from the various non-floor places they've deposited it and either toss it into the shavings, kicking it around a bit, or I put it into a bucket and add it to the compost bin.

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
My point exactly. The only reason I took all the shavings out was to add more sand to even the floor out. From now on it will be coop OR should I say poop management & adding some shavings here & there. As far as spreading the shaving two handfuls of BOSS & your done.