Coop clean out

[Our6chicks]

I live in Oklahoma and its been in the 20s at night lately but I only have about 4-6" in mine also

Aww. I use to live in BA. it can get nippy there. I bet they are nice and comfy with that amount. I will always worry though cause it feels dang cold to me. lol. But I don’t have all that down.

 

[RebeccaRN]

Aww. I use to live in BA. it can get nippy there. I bet they are nice and comfy with that amount. I will always worry though cause it feels dang cold to me. lol. But I don’t have all that down.

Me too just moved from BA to Catoosa

 

[RebeccaRN]

Me too just moved from BA to Catoosa

Its that dang North wind. I put tarps up along the whole north facing fence to try to help with the wind

 

[Our6chicks]

Its that dang North wind. I put tarps up along the whole north facing fence to try to help with the wind

Yes!! That wind is brutal there. I don’t miss that at all! Many fond memories of OK but the wind and tornadoes...not one of them. Lol.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm an empiricist.

I clean my coop when the poop-to-shavings ratio looks too high to my eyes and/or when I detect an odor. For my current setup this means between 4 and 12 weeks, depending on weather and exactly what I'm using as bedding. (See thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/winterizing-coop-and-pen-nc-sandhills-version.1431885/)

I don't scoop poop, but I'll throw some scratch in to encourage the chickens to turn the shavings a couple times a week and, if necessary, I'll use the pitchfork to break up any crusted areas.

 

[Our6chicks]

I'm an empiricist.

I clean my coop when the poop-to-shavings ratio looks too high to my eyes and/or when I detect an odor. For my current setup this means between 4 and 12 weeks, depending on weather and exactly what I'm using as bedding. (See thread here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/winterizing-coop-and-pen-nc-sandhills-version.1431885/)

I don't scoop poop, but I'll throw some scratch in to encourage the chickens to turn the shavings a couple times a week and, if necessary, I'll use the pitchfork to break up any crusted areas.

Great information! Thank you!

 

[3KillerBs]

Great information! Thank you!

You're welcome.

I'm both lazy and of the "chickens are livestock" mindset, so I don't try to maintain house clean in the chicken coop. Barn clean is good enough.

I don't poop scoop the cat litter box either. If I give the cats a nice, deep pan they bury the poop and it doesn't stink. If they can't bury the poop anymore then it's full of urine and would need changing even if I couldn't see visible poop.

If it looks dirty and I can smell it then it's time to clean it.

 

[Our6chicks]

You're welcome.

I'm both lazy and of the "chickens are livestock" mindset, so I don't try to maintain house clean in the chicken coop. Barn clean is good enough.

I don't poop scoop the cat litter box either. If I give the cats a nice, deep pan they bury the poop and it doesn't stink. If they can't bury the poop anymore then it's full of urine and would need changing even if I couldn't see visible poop.

If it looks dirty and I can smell it then it's time to clean it.

I like your way of thinking! I’m all in on that. Horses are much messier. Lol. I’ve done my fair share of mucking stalls. I would worry about sand irritating their feet plus I guess I just have sensory issues with sand. I don’t like to mess with it. I’m doing a deep clean of coop this weekend. I have a lady I get the fresh dried hemp from and she’s delivering some to me. June was the last month it was cleaned. I’ve added fresh hemp along the way and scooped poop daily though. Do you clean out your run completely? If so, how often? I add more material to our run but have yet to take everything out and “start over”.

 

[3KillerBs]

Do you clean out your run completely? If so, how often? I add more material to our run but have yet to take everything out and “start over”.

My current pen is a temporary setup with a very low chicken per square foot density in it so I haven't really used litter in it, except to cover bare areas with pine straw/leaves raked from other areas of our yard. We're planning to put it back to lawn so I didn't put wood chips or anything that wouldn't degrade easily or be easily raked back up into it.

For my in-town setup, I forked it out when it got inconveniently deep or when odor issues couldn't be solved with another 3-4" of dry organic material. That was between 3-4 months in hot, wet weather and 6 months in cool, dry weather.

I'm anticipating using wood chips, pine straw, leaves, straw, etc. in the permanent run to create a "forest floor" style deep litter environment and to fork it out primarily when I want compost for my garden. If I get the setup and chicken density right it should never "need" cleaning, just the addition of more organic material as the composting happens.

 

[jreardon1918]

We have a 4x8 raised coop. We recently took out the poop boards in an effort to lower and move the roosts away from the roof and walls a bit. We did not get the poop boards reinstalled. So, we are trying adding shavings through the winter. So far no smell and the humidity is still not a problem. Currently conditions in the coop are 26F & 76% humidity. The town readings are 27F & 77% humidity at 8:40am. As long as this continues, There will be no large cleanout.