cleaning my coop

[TK421]

On the other hand, I have a 4x3 coop with 4 birds. In 5 months, I've never "cleaned it out." I've just added more pine shavings to it for the deep litter method. Now, in my 15x4 run I use hay, which doesn't Deep Litter very well here in the rainy season. I've had to completely clean and replace once a month.

FYI I will probably clean out the coop completely next year and replace it with brand new fresh wood shavings..

 

[Moabite]

Don't you just look at it and know that you want that in your compost? I mean when the shavings are dry and light brown, it just isn't ready to be changed out. When an area becomes more like the basic ingredients for compost (ie. 30% green and 70% brown) it is time to move it out and replace it.

Composting is the easiest, most economical method to handle it and your plants will love you.

 

[woodmort]

I clean my 12 X 12 coop in the spring--period. After I clear out the manure I toss in 4 bales of pine shavings. Once or twice during the year I may add another bale or two. I figure the manure composts and creates heat during the winter--during the rest of the year the birds are outside enough there isn't a lot of buildup. Has worked for me for 25 years excepting for those few years I had ducks mixed in--in those years I had to clean out around the waterers a couple of times during the winter.

 

[sharol]

I have 7 hens in a tractor coop that is about right for 4 (14 square feet in the coop part and another 24 sq. ft. in the run).

I use wood shavings in the coop and clean daily to remove the bigger bits. I fluff the shavings daily with a cat litter scoop, and when it gets icky, I'll change out the whole lot of shavings (or when it gets colder and I put the coop/run in a permanent place for winter). They have been in the coop since they were 4-5 weeks old and they are almost 14 weeks now, and I haven't changed out all the shavings yet. I mix shavings with DE, and put some fresh in each day to replace the removed dirty litter. It is about 3 inches deep (not really deep litter, but sort of). I clean the nest boxes daily, too. We have no smell except early mornings when one of the two windows has been closed during rainy nights. I'm working on a way to leave it open a bit with some sort of cover to keep the water out. They deserve a dry, clean, ventilated place to live.

My plan had been to rehome 2 or 3 of my girls before winter, but I'm going to try to work it out with them. They get free range time every day at least 3 hours, and the run part of the tractor gives them a bit more space that is sort of coop space. For winter when it isn't being moved daily, I'm going to put heavy plastic over most of the run wire (being sure that there is sufficient ventilation), and put 4 inches of sand in the run to give them more protected space on days too nasty to be out in the yard. They will still get free range time when the weather permits.

If they start feather picking or fighting, I'll have to rethink it. I just can't bear to part with any of them. Each one is such an individual. I have hope though. My husband told a friend (in my presence) that we needed to enlarge our housing for the chickens because they are too crowded. He says they are spoiled rotten.

 

[Beekissed]

When I first started using deep litter, I used hay and straw and was not a bit impressed nor satisfied with the results. It was hard to turn and fluff, it formed a "cap" under which dampness would lie and would not absorb properly. The chickens couldn't fluff it for me either, as the strands of grass/straw would form a tightly knit mat.

The pine bedding was another thing altogether! It was great and never shows dampness, composts down enough to be able to add fresh to it and it never smells bad in my coop anymore. Ever. I even prefer it over when I used to rake all the droppings out daily and used no bedding whatsoever.

An added plus to switching to deep litter was the fact that not one chicken has had frost bite since I switched...same coop, same chickens, worse weather even...but no frostbite.

I clean out each spring and again in the fall. I also use shredded paper from the office and the birds mix it in nicely, it stays fluffy also and composts well in my garden later. Also saves me money on shavings.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

My coop is 10x7 and there are 7 girls in it.. I clean the dropping board every day and scrap the roost and jump boards in front of the nest boxes every day. I rake the floor just to stir up the shavings over week...I cleaned it out this spring and it is nice, doesn't smell...

Now my little girls coop is smaller and has too many in it ..It gets cleaned out every morning and new shavings thrown in and I rake the 10x10 run everyday..

I tried straw but hated it when it got damp, it was heavy, moldy and smelled... After two weeks I threw it out and started using pine shaving