Cleaning coop

[swinglady]

Good morning!

So I just got my first flock of chickens last night and I think I have everything covered but one quick question... Our coop is off the ground with a plastic floor and a couple inches of wood shavings and I got a bigger kitty litter scoop to clean it with daily but what do you do with the poo? do you just put it right into the compost? I have a small compost we've been using for a few years which we might need to upgrade. I hear the deep litter method is great for compost and everything but is it still good to use just the scooped waste?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, I put it straight into my compost.

 

[aart]

do you just put it right into the compost?

I put it right into someone elses compost.

 

[swinglady]

I put it right into someone elses compost.

HAHAHA nice!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I put it in my compost and someone else's compost! My mother in law begged me for some so I collect it in buckets and alternate where the buckets end up.

The poop that ends up in my deep litter will eventually get scooped up with everything else and end up in the garden as well.

 

[blackdog043]

I have a small compost we've been using for a few years which we might need to upgrade.

Yep, I bet you will, depending on how many chickens you have. Poop can add up real quick.
I dump mine into my compost.

 

[NHRedsRock]

Hi All,
So, we are new to raising chickens and our sweet chicks (8 weeks old) spent their first week in the coop. I am looking for some advice on cleaning the coop. Our coop is 9ftx10ft walk in. We covered the floor with linoleum and pine shavings. There are roosting boards with a poop board below. It seems they love to poop everywhere. Looking for what needs to be cleaned/removed, how often, and what to clean with. My husband built our roosting boards to be removeable. I am heading to the store for a respirator, latex gloves, etc. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[aart]

Hi All,
So, we are new to raising chickens and our sweet chicks (8 weeks old) spent their first week in the coop. I am looking for some advice on cleaning the coop. Our coop is 9ftx10ft walk in. We covered the floor with linoleum and pine shavings. There are roosting boards with a poop board below. It seems they love to poop everywhere. Looking for what needs to be cleaned/removed, how often, and what to clean with. My husband built our roosting boards to be removeable. I am heading to the store for a respirator, latex gloves, etc. Any advice would be appreciated.

-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.

-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.

-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.

-Runs have semi-deep litter, never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials.

-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).

There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.

 

[NHRedsRock]

Thanks aart! What you outlined is what I was thinking ,but wanted to be sure. Do you use any sand in the coop or run?

 

[Erba]

I fish it out of the sawdust covered poop board with a kitty litter scoop and anything else that's on the straw pellet covered floor of the coop. For the ramp, I get a chunk of grass and wipe it down if it's wet, or scrape it off with the scoop. It all goes into the bucket and straight into the compost bin, where I cover it with the top layer. Stops the flies.