Coop cleaning??

[Indianfeathers]

Quote:
I was wondering the same thing. I read some where that you do not need to clean out the shaving and poop but once a month. But I found that I have to clean it out 2-3 times a month, because it really smells. I don't know if it is because I am not using enough shavings, coop is to small for the amount of chickens. All i know is that once a month is not often enough. I am thinking that I may start cleaning it out every week. I also scrap the rooster daily to get the poop off.

 

[2txmedics]

I use deep litter, have 20 in the main coop and I clean mine out completely once a year, but I rake it out and take poop out every few days and I also keep DE in it so I never get any smells or flies....

 

[BarefootMom]

we don't use wood chips

we shovel it out everyother month or so.

sometimes I will put the wood pellets down if it is really rainy or something and the girls are staying inside more. Our chicks free range though so they are usually only in there to sleep and to lay.

 

[AlienChick]

We use deep litter and just keep adding litter on top.

In the mornings I enjoy raking the litter a bit (like you would if you had sand).

Provides me with sort of a Zen peacefulness in the mornings.

I only have 23 chickens in an 8x12 coop.

I add Sweet PDZ and/or DE to the litter every so often when I think it needs it.

I keep the coop bedding DRY at all times.

Wherever there's a poop buildup, I'll toss it out.

It's been a pleasure and no chore for me since I don't have to do any serious CLEANING (just raking and adding more litter when needed).

 

[PetRock]

We have a poop tray under the roosts and clean it off twice a week. At the same time, any poops in the pine shavings inside the coop get raked out. We put a thin layer of pine shavings on the poop tray and add some new pine shavings to the floor if it is looking bare. Then we sprinkle DE over everything including the roosts. We do a deep cleaning with total removal/replacement of all pine shavings twice a year. The DE helps with the odor and the only time the coop smells a little is if we have let the poop on the poop tray build up for more than 5 or 6 days. At that point, it is also a heavy load to carry so we try really hard to clean it off every 3-4 days.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

For a deep litter coop I clean out the litter once a year, in the spring. I top-dress with fresh litter as needed.

Established deep litter coops that are stinky have an imbalance in the litter between the amount of poop and the amount of fresh shavings that have been added. If you can smell ammonia in the coop, it really needs more shavings added. A deep litter coop shouldn't smell bad. They do need to be top-dressed with a light layer of fresh shavings from time to time, focusing on the areas that need it most. I find that the litter levels even out as the chickens work it around.

Occasionally, stinky coops are the result of a water leak. It can be from a water font, roof leak or rain blowing in through openings. Excess wetness in the litter causes it to be stinky.

If you don't want to do deep litter, just clean it out when it smells or looks bad to you. You could also do a modified version, where you top dress it with shavings in between cleanings, to extend the time between cleanings, but still clean it more often than once a year. You can do it any way you want to.

 

[2txmedics]

I failed to mention that when I do clean it out completely, I leave about 1 bucket full of the old litter, I read somewhere that it helps to keep the PH BALANCE of the coop.....and I never have a smell, bugs, flies nothing...its clean and like the others here, I also add fresh shavings as needed.....

 

[Garrison]

We clean ours out every two weeks, we use straw for the run and coop so we can mulch are avocado grove. Wheel barrow and a horse corral fork makes short work of it.