Cleaning the coop.

[goldenberry]

Hi, After almost squishing one of our girls when moving our tractor coop, we've decided to make it a permanent coop. Right now it doesn't have a floor so they have access to the grass. I have read that you only need to clean out all the bedding with the chickens' poop in it only once in a while. That it's healthy to leave the "stuff" on the ground and let it build up. Should we put a floor in with an access door to help clean it out or leave it bare and let the girls poop to their heart's content and only clean it about once a month? I clean the nesting boxes every day. I can't stand to see them dirty!

Thanks

 

[4 the Birds]

Sounds like they are roosting in the nest boxes. With plenty of roost bar space and proper design, your nest boxes will never have poop in them. Mine stay clean and never need to be cleaned. With roost bars, most all of your waste will be below them and with the deep litter method you can just add a little bedding over the pile every few days. Deep litter works well if the coop has plenty of ventilation. Then it can be shoveled out every few weeks and fresh bedding added. Some type of flooring is best to keep your coop high and dry. Chickens dig and scratch down and those spots will be mud after a heavy rain. A large access door is essential for ease of access to cleaning, feeding, watering, and egg collecting on your daily rounds. Unless of course your coop is a walk-in.

 

[goldenberry]

Thank you so much for the info! This is our first time ever trying to raise chickens. We do have a roost bar in the coop but it's in the same area as the nesting boxes. The roosting bar is below the nesting boxes about 6 inches off the floor (it actually runs between the two rows of nesting boxes). Should we put the roosting bar in a different area than the nesting boxes? The area where the nesting boxes are is completely enclosed with one plexiglass window on one wall and a door leading in from the watering and feeding area which is enclosed with hardware cloth. They always go to the enclosed room at night.

 

[4 the Birds]

Probably why they are roosting in the nest boxes. Your roost bar needs to be higher up than your nest boxes. Ideally you want the nest boxes on one side and the roost bars on the other side or end and higher up.