Cleaning the coop

[gale65]

I live in Indiana and we use deep litter. We start out with a thin layer, like 4" (but they move it all around and some areas are deeper and some you can see the floor underneath) and just add it as needed. I also throw in some sweet pdz whenever I put in clean shavings. One thing you want to remember as you build your coop is to leave room for the bedding. We made sure the nest box openings were up high enough that shavings don't spill into them and the same with the pop door. The regular door is at the floor level and we put a board in the doorway to keep shavings from falling out.

We've only had our coop since October but our plan is to change out the bedding 2-3 times per year (we are thinking it will need it more often in the winter since it's more closed up then). My husband did it the last time using a big scoop shovel. We're lucky to have a manure spreader so he just backed that up to the door and scooped it all in there. We don't use anything else right now. I'm going to buy some Oxine so that I can use it for disinfecting if needed.

As for sand-we had that in our old coop and I hated it. I didn't like scooping poop every day or two and when I did it, it was SO dusty. I had to shower right after because I felt like I had poop dust and sand dust all over me. I am MUCH happier with the shavings, personally.

 

[Chickwithstick]

All wonderful advise. I like the sand idea. Any type of sand? I happen to have a bunch of play sand bags around. will that work?
Another new Mother Hen..lol

Woohoo.. so exciting!!!

 

[mpare]

I just switched to using construction grade sand inside the coop. For me it has been much easier and cleaner than using pine shavings. I sprinkle the poop board with some Sweet PDZ daily. (I keep some inside the coop in an old parmessan cheese container) I use a cat litter scoop to clean up. The sand stays very clean and there is no smell at all. It takes me about 2 minutes a day.

In the winter I may go back to the pine shavings as the sand might be too cold-but for now it is great.

 

[Ashburnham]

I use deep litter and shovel it out once a year.

Cobwebs? Come on! I dont even clean up cobwebs in my own house! lol

 

[Kay56]

New to this as well.....what about combining the sand and pine shavings together ? Crazy? A big mess? What is PDZ? I will have sand in the run area and my coop is 4x5. A friend sprays her coop with a vinegar - water solution about once a week. She is new to this as well. I don't have my chicks yet (May) but am trying to get all ready before hand. Gosh there is sooooo much to worry about !

 

[crittergarden]

Anybody had success with deep straw or deep hay instead of deep shavings?

Alternatively, how well do the shavings break down in the compost pile?

 

[Ashburnham]

Our local electricity company cuts down branches that are too close to the power lines and mulches them,
then gives away truck loads of the mulch- I use that for deep litter.