Coop Cleaning, Schedules & Maintenance.

[darkmatter]

Daily Chores Let them out of the coop in the morning and toss them their "chicken bucket" of scratch and garden/meal preps leftovers. Collect eggs. Shut them up come dark.

Weekly ChoresCheck waterer and refill if it hadn't rained and done it already.


Monthly Chores (If any) Fix anything if needed---fencing, etc.


Yearly Chores Clean the compost pit out in the spring to put on the Garden, plant stuff for the chickens

See my BYC page for pics of my simple, but efficient setup that has been in use a couple decades. (You can learn a lot from a lazy man)

 

[ailurophile23]

Some folks use DE, some use poultry dust, some use Sevin...some use a combination of some of these......they all seem to work. I just use the poultry dust as it is readily available and cheap.

 

[SteveBaz]

Quote:
I love thise " I also throw in some coffee chaff w/ their shavings about 1x/month" What a clever idea for my coffe grounds. I am taking notes you guys are great with ideas!!!

Thank you Steve

 

[mtnhens4]

I am new to chickens since March and have 4 girls. I always use DE and clean the coop/run once a week and haven't had an odor but a few flies. I just sprinkle it around the coop and run liberaly after I rake and scrape up the poo, easy. I also have added DE to their dust bath box and have never had a parasite problem. Be sure when buying DE to get the food grade kind since they will ingest it but that also kills any worms that may be in them. I have read on this site that hanging vanilla scented car fresheners around helps with the flies because they don't like the smell of vanilla I hope this helps, Jean

 

[kuntrygirl]

AM Time
5:00am – 5:05am - Wake up & put on outside clothes
5:05 am – 5:15 am - Feed feral cats and make sure that all water bowls are filled.
5:15 am – 6:30 am – Do a head count of all animals. Open 11 chicken coops in different locations of property. Check all nesting boxes to make sure that no snakes or other varmints are in there from the night. Fill feeders and waterers for adult chickens, ducks (different locations on the property), turkeys, guineas, geese, sheep, goats and rabbits. Fill feeders and waterers for baby chicks and ducks. Check secured stalls to make sure that all new babies made it through the night with no problems. Put hay out for the sheep and goats. Empty dirty pools and put fresh water for adult ducks and geese. Make sure that water troughs are filled for sheep and goat.

PM Time
5:30pm – 5:45 pm - Arrive home and put on outside clothes
5:45 pm – 5:55 pm - Feed feral cats and make sure that all water bowls are filled.
5:55 pm –8:45 pm or 9:00 PM – Do a head count of all animals. Let all animals out of the chicken yard (1 acre) in to the yard (1 acre) to eat the grass in the yard. Check secured stalls/run to make sure that all new babies made it through the day with no problems. Let ALL of the babies out to free range in the chicken yard. Fill feeders and waterers for adult chickens, ducks, guineas, turkeys, geese, sheep goats and rabbits. Fill feeders and waterers for baby chicks and ducks. Empty dirty pools and put fresh water for adult ducks and geese. Make sure that water troughs are filled for sheep and goat.

I let all of the animals free range in the backyard until the sun goes down or until the chickens start walking back to their chicken houses. Once all animals are in where the are supposed to be, I lock the chicken coops, do a head count and walk around to make sure that there are no varmints waiting in the wing to step foot on the property. After my walk through, I do ANOTHER head count and go in for the night.

I check my chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas twice and day (opening and closing coops) and when they are running around the yard. I do a head to toe. (Also check sheep, goat, rabbits and cats.)

THINGS THAT I LOOK FOR
TOP 10 Visual Inspection List
1. Comb- abnormal color, injuries, scabs (dry pox)
2. Eyes - swelling, crusty eyes, no yucky stuff in eyes
3. Beak- injuries, cracks
4. Nostrils - clog, clean for air flow, no greenish or yellowish yucky stuff there
5. Neck- missing feathers, injuries, wry neck
6. Body - missing feathers, injuries
7. Crop - look for impacted crop
8. Legs/Feet/Toes - scales to indicate mites, swollen areas between toes (possible bumblefoot underneath), toenails that are too long and need trimming.
9. Vent - Missing feathers, swelling, yucky/colorish stuff, pastey butt, look for evidence of mites/lice
10. Poop - check for worms or any other problems and remember poop chart comparison for problems.

HANDS ON inspections
1. Part feathers to look for parasites
2. Smell breath for any foul/sour odor
3. Feel crop for impaction
4. Check and feel vent feel for internal laying
5. Open mouth for problems with tongue and walls of mouth, looking for lesions
6. Feel entire body for possible weight loss
7. Listen for abnormal breathing (respiratory problems)

In the evening, I have to pick eggs, clean eggs and place eggs in egg cartons and prepare egg orders for the next day.

*And we can’t forget the maintenance and cleaning of feeders, waterers, cleaning coops, cleaning brooders, cleaning nesting boxes, shoveling poo, etc. !

That about does it for me.

 

[SteveBaz]

Quote:
untrygirl

First off SUPERWOMEN!!! you deserve that!! When I worked to earn a living I did not do that much as that in a day for sure. I know you are going to say what other things you do as well. I am taking notes and your list of Hands on and Visual inspection was vey helpful and will be apprecciated by my little girls, thx

Steve

 

[Nicole01]

Daily--- several times a day I scoop poop from coop and run. I change 3 gallon waterer, wash and refill with fresh water(only fill 1/2 way). Give treats every morning(oats, crack corn and sunflower seeds). Let chickens free range after dinner and supervise until they return to coop.

Weekly--- disinfect coop by spaying oxine and wash roost with oxine. Add DE if needed.

Monthly--- take out pine on floor and nests. Disinfect nest boxes and floor with oxine. Re add pine chips and DE. Add feed to feeder if needed. My feeder holds 50# of feed.

 

[Ole rooster]

The first thing I do at 7:00 is go down to the coop, open a window cover and talk to the girls. It's still dark here at 7:00. When I do that they start a little silly chirping sound. Then I open the pop door and they hit the floor and out the come. I get a scoop of scratch and throw it around and let the have their fun. I check the feeder for enough feed and be sure it clean. I replace and scrub the water and waterer every other day. Mine stays pretty clean for some reason. I wait till about 9:00 or so to let the poop settle a bit then clean it out of the sand. That's about 10 minutes. I look over the birds for anything different. Movements, reaction to each other, picking at themselves and such. I try to see each one poop too. That tells me a lot about what's going on with them.

I let them out a couple times a day to free range and have room to run and play. My dog enjoys that time too.

The last thing I do every night is clean the run and under the coop. That way I know it good to go when they come out in the morning. During the day if I see they have been active with their pooper I get my bucket and clean it up.

That's about it. But the whole time I have them out of the pen I talk to um. They follow me around like I'm mama.

 

[babyrnlc]

Daily: I feed the chickens (sometimes it is not empty, so I wait, I have a large free feed bucket), I used to scoop the bedding in the coop, but I found I needed to change it weekly whether I did or not, so I dont. I do change the bedding in the nest boxes. One or more of the girls likes to poo in a couple of them and I think that is gross!) I add water to the nipple waterer (I give them a basin in the summer when it is hot and I add water to it). I give the girls scraps or treats, or they yell at me. In the afternoon I let them out into the yard to free range. (Now that we have 2 month old chicks I cannot let them in the yard without putting up my dog. She is great with the hens, but she chases the chicks)

Weekly: I move the coop/run to a new spot and change the bedding in the coop (it is a raised tractor type, but it is huge). I wash out the nipple waterer and wash out the feeder.

Monthly: usually I am replacing a roof, or making some kind of improvement.

 

[blueberrychickens]

Hi Steve,
Just so you know, coffee grounds are different from coffee chaff. The chaff comes off the beans when the beans are roasted, its a nice fluffy type substance, makes good bedding. I don't think I'd want to put coffee grounds in the bedding for fear they would eat it & then you'd have chickens on a caffiene high! I got my chaff from the local coffee roasters, they will save it for you, all you have to do is ask! You can do a google search for what chaff is & if there are any local coffee roasters in your area.
Good luck!