cleaning equipment

[dianer29]

My husband and I are considering placing lineloum flooring as a floor to the coop we are putting together and using pine shavings and DE. I need some suggestions on how best to clean the coop. I saw a small in width rake on some poultry supplies site and now I cannot locate it. The coop is 48 " in width.
I do not want any caging material as a floor. We reside in the tropics(Hawaii) so of course humidity will run high. I like the fact that the flooring might be not so difficult to maintain. Any thoughts on our idea. They will have 2 runs attached ,one on one side and one on the other. I would like to also address the runs as this whole unit will be over lava rock.

 

[goldielocks]

We used lineolum and just love it. I have used shavings and straw and the shavings are the way to go. The coop was starting to stink in a weeks time and the girls are hardly in it...just to roost. The shavings smell like clean shavings for weeks. As far as cleaning tools, i have used a pick rake, they make one that the picks are close together so the poo dont fall thur. When i clean all the shavings out i used a snow shovel and then just broomed the rest out the door into the shovel. I didnt have to mop the lineolum...it absorbs the poo and doesnt get on the lineolum. I also dust with a little DE once a week. We went with sand for our run and the rain seems to keep it clean. Havent had a problem with odor and the girls love to take dust baths in it. I use the rack in there also.

 

[teach1rusl]

Are you planning on using dropping boards under the roosts?? If so, then the coop shouldn't end up with too many droppings. One poster on here suggested sprinkling DE and pine shavings on the dropping boards. She said she just used a pooper scooper to gather them up each day. I'm going to sprinkle DE on mine, but w/out the shavings, and will just scrape them (with a putty/drywall knife) into a bucket each day... But I'm only getting a few birds, so won't have that much mess. I too have linoleum flooring, and I love it! I have sprinkled DE and shavings there...

 

[Amethyste]

We have a board under our roosts.... and every morning I just sweep it off into a little bag I have, and then take a little of the shavings off the floor and add to the board. I sprinkle a little Stall dry as well.

NO STINK!! I love it

I just use a little handheld dustpan and mini broom to sweep it off the roost board, and I have a snow shovel type thing to help me mix floor shavings and clean it out. As I put shavings on the boards and take it out every day, I am adding new shavings to the floor. I figure this way it is constantly somewhat clean.

 

[Monk]

My coop is small, 4'x 6' and six birds. I used lineloum flooring with the deep litter method, shavings and DE. I stir it up weekly, never had anything stick to the flooring or any offensive smell so far. I plan on a total cleanup twice a year(Nov/Apr), using a hoe, dust pan and small wisk broom. Probably will use the shop vac also. The nesting boxes as needed. As for the run I do about every two weeks with a rake, hoe and shovel. It has been working pretty well but as you have mention the humitity in HI????

 

[dianer29]

I am going to look into a small cat litter pan perhaps as the coop is not as big as I would like it to be.