Coop cleaning????? help me (:

[ALRwild]

Quote:
EVERY ONE TO TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!! I am very guilty of not doing anything close to that...

 

[egghead@1265]

Have any of you read about the deep litter method? This is on many places and wondered if you might try this or think of it as we are thinking about it...?!...

I found the post below, quite interesting and am reading about it now to learn more myself.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=598790&p=2

Seeing comments like this one, "Deep litter method. Clean twice a year." Made me look twice!

 

[nickie]

I use oxine to occasionally due to our super wet conditions this year to prevent mold and any other funky growing.


My big question, with as much respect as possible, why on earth would you disinfect a coop when the chickens themselves are very far from sterile things themselves? I get cleaning out the coop when needed (duh), hosing it out (why not), but scrubbing, disinfecting, and using lysol? That seems like a lot of unnecessary work to me.

I am also under the impression that using bleach in an environment with ammonia is probably not a good idea (I could be wrong, I slept through ap chemistry 12 years ago). Not that I have an ammonia issue, but it is present in the coop environment.

I am trying hard to not be rude or snotty I'm just curious about the way other people do things and why they do it that way.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

People manage their litter and clean their coops in different ways. There's no one right way to do it.

I prefer using deep litter in coops and I don't disinfect my coop. For a deep litter coop, I clean the litter out once a year, in the spring. I like to leave a little litter in the coop, to reseed the composting organisms faster. I wouldn't be trying to kill all the good organisms off in the coop. For me, it would be like hosing down my compost pile with bleach, which would be counter productive.

If I ever had a disease outbreak in my flock and my coop was contaminated, I would do a complete clear out and disinfect. That's just never happened to me. I don't bring in adult chickens and I'm careful where I get my chicks from. I try to house and feed my chickens in a way that keeps them healthy, plus their immune systems strong, too. I think I've also been lucky, but I actively work at not having disease problems.

Some people like to clean out their coop more often, instead of using deep litter. Lots of people just clear it out, then wash down the walls and floor. Other people do that and then disinfect. The disinfecting gets done before you add fresh litter back into the coop. Some people like to spot clean in coops between clear outs. Some people like to have poop boards or bins under the roost that they clean every day or two.

Chickens just want to live in a coop that isn't overly wet and smelling like ammonia. Any way you can manage their litter that ends with that result is great with them.

 

[lotzahenz]

I usually clean out my shavings, then sweep. I knock down any cobwebs and if it is summer pressure wash it out. In the winter when it is clean out time, I liberally sprinkle agriculture grade lime (ground limestone) on the floor, while wearing a mask. Then I pour in clean pine shavings, making sure to cover well the lime. I only do this about twice a year. I also try to use the deep litter method, but I find I get ammonia smell before the composting starts up good, and that may be because I do lime it and don't leave any seed litter. Best of luck.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Lotzahenz, is it possible you might either need more shavings or some stirring during the early phase when you smell ammonia? That's what I would normally look at. It kind of depends on how large a volume of shavings you started out with, which one it might be. Other than that, I'm not sure what would be causing the problem.

 

[Aria]

We take EVERYTHING out of the Barn. Take a water hose to it and use BLEACH in the last
mop. We have a cement floor.

The we put a thick layer of Hay....everything back in the Barn.

We have a pooper scooper and scoop the poop when it is visible. AND we add more fresh hay
when it looks dirty. You don't gett every piece of poop each time.

AND we keep this up all Winter. We have deep layers of hay for Winter. In the Spring we clean coop and follow the same procedure. I will post the inside of our Barn. Regards, Aria

 

[Aria]

THE INSIDE OF OUR BARN....ARIA

 

[Attila the Hen]

I have a 8X10 coop with a box in it that they sleep in and I close up at night. This means almost all the droppings are in the box and not the coop. They free range all day. I roughly rake out the droppings from the box and top up the litter. I then put that in the compost pile nearby. I don't pick up anything in the coop area, just add litter (which at the moment is shredded paper I get for free) I just add to it to keep things feeling dry and provide insulation from the cold floor during the winter.
I have wondered if I would get a better coop compost if I put the droppings in the coop instead of the compost heap.
I use to clean the boards,and perch weekly but have stopped and do it only if they look grubby or I feel "moved" to do so.