Coop clean out

[aart]

Am I the only one who's chickens don't poop on the roosts lol

Depends on just what you mean.
They don't poop while on the roost sleeping?
They don't drop poops on the roost itself?

Mine don't poop on he roost itself while sleeping,
but when awake and hanging out on the roosts, they will poop on it.

 

[Dhkoenig]

View attachment 2491432Just cleaned out my coop today

because I am a relative newbie - can you tell me what that cool thing is in your coop? Looks like a garbage can with little individual feeders around the bottom?

 

[Duckbreeder2020]

because I am a relative newbie - can you tell me what that cool thing is in your coop? Looks like a garbage can with little individual feeders around the bottom?

That’s our feeder! It keeps gallons of food and we don’t have to give them more food everyday!!! It’s awesome! Here is how to make it:

 

[Duckbreeder2020]

That’s our feeder! It keeps gallons of food and we don’t have to give them more food everyday!!! It’s awesome! Here is how to make it:
View attachment 2491805

You can make it into a water to

 

[goldenyears]

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.

I use industrial hemp from Carolina Coops and put first load in back in May. A couple days ago I pitch forked some out (I had about 6 inches) and added a little new. There was about a full wheelbarrow load that I tossed. I have 18 chickens in that coop and have had zero smell or excessive moisture. The chickens stir it up somewhat, but I noticed the bottom layer was untouched and looked brand new. I will begin to help turning it over monthly to test results.

 

[Cheery]

I’ve seen a wide range of answers for this one. My coop is 6x7. I have 9 chickens. I use hemp bedding in my coop. I clean the poop every morning from under the roosts. They occasionally go into the coop during the day. These poops I leave be and just turn the bedding over. I have a good 3-4” of hemp. I had planned on completely cleaning out twice a year. It doesn’t smell. It’s dry. Is that enough? Should I clean it completely out once a week? Month? Picture of chicken and bedding below. TIA

Your hens are very fortunate to have their poop cleans out daily. I have a deep litter system too, I take out the poop every week or two for my compost. I wait until until I can smell ammonia before doing a complete clean out. (about twice a year) or if I see any red mites, usually late winter. I lay garden lime down and before I put in the bedding. I use wood shavings.

 

[RebeccaRN]

Depends on just what you mean.
They don't poop while on the roost sleeping?
They don't drop poops on the roost itself?

Mine don't poop on he roost itself while sleeping,
but when awake and hanging out on the roosts, they will poop on it.

Oh ok mine only sleep in their coop or go in to lay eggs in the nest boxes, they don't hang out in there at all so never had any poop on the roosts

 

[Malamute1]

I’ve seen a wide range of answers for this one. My coop is 6x7. I have 9 chickens. I use hemp bedding in my coop. I clean the poop every morning from under the roosts. They occasionally go into the coop during the day. These poops I leave be and just turn the bedding over. I have a good 3-4” of hemp. I had planned on completely cleaning out twice a year. It doesn’t smell. It’s dry. Is that enough? Should I clean it completely out once a week? Month? Picture of chicken and bedding below. TIA

I use low dust, small sift pine bedding + PDZ. I use a litter scoop and scoop the coop most days. Miss one every now n then. My coop is small. TSC rated 8-10 chickens. . Somehow? Chicken math! We ended up with 6 orps, 2 ameraucana, and a retired 7 yr old EE. Not small girls. I not only scoop the coop but from the beginning of spring until late fall I pressure wash the interior every 8-10 wks. The girls free range from dawn to dusk in a 100' x 90' yard. If my coop was larger I'd probably only pressure wash 2 x yr. I know a lot of people only change out their litter once or twice a yr. Since covid I'm mostly retired and my peeps have turned into outdoor therapy for me. Lol I have 3 that come talk to me and inspect the coop while I'm cleaning it. If there's no smell of poop build up around the coop I wouldn't replace the bedding till it needs it. In another thread about litter n coop cleaning someone posted that they use PDZ stall refresher in their coop instead of bedding. I think they said they scooped poop but it has been a yr and the pdz is just starting to get to the point of adding to it. If I ever get around to a bigger coop, I'm thinking the stall refresher as a sand bedding might be the way to go.

 

[Malamute1]

Good points! Thanks! I had one bird diagnosed with worms so I am deworming the whole flock and will be doing a complete clean out and scrub of the coop this week. My first girls (now 8 months old) never hung out in the coop. Only slept. Was so easy to keep clean. I added some more in October. The new ones love to go hang out in the coop. Grrrr. We live in GA but the coop stays dry even during rains. Picture of coop below. We have added more run space to this since the pic as well.

luv you coop!

 

[Judy Todd]

As long as it doesnt smell or get wet, its fine. I use pine shavings in my coop and only clean it out twice a year. I put more bedding down as needed and the chickens turn it for me. Its called the deep bedding method

I also use the deep litter system , clean out maybe once or twice a year and no smell. I do have a drop board under the roosts that I scrape clean every morning tho, so that makes a big difference and my girls freerange every day.