Coop clean out

[RoyalChick]

I cleaned my coop out once, about 2.5 years in. I plan on cleaning it out again this fall. Deep litter method on dirt floor.

Yes, that.
I haven’t cleaned mine in a couple of years. I add leaves and pine shavings and shredded paper on top and the chickens turn it over.
I am going to do a big dig out soon but that is motivated by wanting nutrient rich dirt for a new flower bed and digging it out of the chicken coop is for free!

 

[Ascholten]

Careful on using the chicken 'dirt' for your flower bed. That stuff will be very strong ad may burn your plants, id mix it in with a lot of other stuff to thin it out a bit.

Aaron

 

[rosemarythyme]

Careful on using the chicken 'dirt' for your flower bed. That stuff will be very strong ad may burn your plants, id mix it in with a lot of other stuff to thin it out a bit.

I use mine as a mix in for existing soil in pots, or thrown on top of my raised beds during the off season in preparation for spring.

 

[Dhkoenig]

New to this group (and to chickens!) and trying to learn more about using diamatacious earth in the coop. The coop does not smell. I use white pine shavings. Every few days I turn the shavings and throw down a new layer. I was also sprinkling in some of this DE under the new layer of shavings to avoid smell and mites. I am concerned that the DE may be harmful to the chicks and I may not even need it. Is that correct? Just turn the shavings every few days, add a fresh layer, and completing clean it out when needed and not use the DE? Thanks!

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Hi - I was the BIGGEST DE person - when I did my spring cleaning I took everything out of the coop and rubbed everything down with DE so as to kill any mites etc...but a few days after that one of my hens got pneumonia. Double. She made it but only because I am the crazy lady who lets her hen be hospitalized for 5 days....but the doctor speculated that it might be because I could have overdone it on the DE. Ever since then I have been very sparing with it.

 

[Vickischics]

Hi - I was the BIGGEST DE person - when I did my spring cleaning I took everything out of the coop and rubbed everything down with DE so as to kill any mites etc...but a few days after that one of my hens got pneumonia. Double. She made it but only because I am the crazy lady who lets her hen be hospitalized for 5 days....but the doctor speculated that it might be because I could have overdone it on the DE. Ever since then I have been very sparing with it.

Well, all I can say is...Your chicken is very lucky to have you. And your very lucky to have a poultry vet nearby.
I've read about that happening from DE and more! Therefore, I don't use it anymore. Plus, I thought...Self....If I have to wear a N95 mask and gloves while dusting my coop, roost and inside the nesting boxes, why in the heck would I allow my chickens to be exposed to that fine powder in their little lungs when they're scratching away looking for something good to eat?
Plus, I really never had any luck with it anyway. The critter has to be submerged in the powder to maybe kill it. So, forget it. I use with much success Permethrin in my sprayer. Yes, I still wear a N95 mask and gloves but, at least it drys and remains effective and my girls aren't digging in it inside the coop, on the roost and in the nesting boxes while getting it into their little lungs.

 

[Ascholten]

I generally go out every morning with the tongs and grab the poop out of mine. Occasionally if I sleep in a little late, by the time I get in there, they already scratched and scuffled around and its buried under the pine shavings.

From what I have seen with my flock, as long as it's not stinky, or anything nasty like moldy or wet it's not that big of a problem. Another thing to keep an eye out for is pests. If there are a lot of flies or rodents that could be come an issue too.

I only have 4 chickens so it's not that big of a deal in my case thankfully, but with that another thing you can do it you wish, about once a week or so, go in there and just turn the hay over, you don't need to dig all the way to the bottom if you have an open bottom pen, but give it a little turning. Generally any turds that they turned over will dry our fairly fast, and now you have the little dried poops you can pick up or however you collect them, pick em out of the straw and discard.

There is also some powder I seen in the TSC that is like some sort of composting stuff they say to sprinkle on the floor when you put new hay in. Does not seem to to much IMO but another option to look into maybe?

Aaron

 

[Our6chicks]

I generally go out every morning with the tongs and grab the poop out of mine. Occasionally if I sleep in a little late, by the time I get in there, they already scratched and scuffled around and its buried under the pine shavings.

From what I have seen with my flock, as long as it's not stinky, or anything nasty like moldy or wet it's not that big of a problem. Another thing to keep an eye out for is pests. If there are a lot of flies or rodents that could be come an issue too.

I only have 4 chickens so it's not that big of a deal in my case thankfully, but with that another thing you can do it you wish, about once a week or so, go in there and just turn the hay over, you don't need to dig all the way to the bottom if you have an open bottom pen, but give it a little turning. Generally any turds that they turned over will dry our fairly fast, and now you have the little dried poops you can pick up or however you collect them, pick em out of the straw and discard.

There is also some powder I seen in the TSC that is like some sort of composting stuff they say to sprinkle on the floor when you put new hay in. Does not seem to to much IMO but another option to look into maybe?

Aaron

Great! Now I don’t feel so bad. After I pick up their turds in the morning, I do a quick turnover for any I missed. I also use Coop Recuperate. Pictured below. It dries poop up and refreshes.

 

[Our6chicks]

I cleaned my coop out once, about 2.5 years in. I plan on cleaning it out again this fall. Deep litter method on dirt floor.

That is awesome! My anxiety is going down now.

 

[RebeccaRN]

I thought leaving the poop in to compost and create warmth in the winter was the point? I use hemp also and a hand rake to turn the bedding a couple times a week. If there is a lot of poop I scape off the whole top layer of bedding and put fresh on top, throwing the scraped off layer in the compost pile.

During the summer I only put sand in the bottom of my coop and scoop poop pretty much every day

 

[RebeccaRN]

I’ve heard a lot of good things about sand and some bad. My husband can’t stand sand and I know somehow it would wind up tracked into the house and I would hear about it. Lol. I’ll stick with hemp for now. Sand possibly in the future. Thanks so much.

My coop is small and they have their own fenced in yard, I havnt had the problem of it getting anywhere but just outside the coop. Nobody goes out there but me and I've managed not to track any into my house so far. Thank God