- Feb 22, 2010
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When we built our coop, we designed it so it could be hosed out on a daily basis. We put in trays covered with chicken wire under the roost. The poop falls through to a platform that can be hosed into plastic gutter, through pipe and out on the ground away from the coop and run. The platform is covered with hard plastic sheets that can be removed along with the trays. Sometimes the pipe get clogged with hay, so most of the time we take them out to clean and dispose of the poop in an area for compost. Then we added on what we call the summer roost, but it is not being used at night.
Now we have more chickens and need to expand the roosting area. We also realized we need to set up the roosts a little different, our oldest chicken seems to have a little trouble getting down. She has to have the top roost. We are trying to avoid using the trays with chicken wire. My husband thinks it's to hard on the girl's feet. After reading some other posts, it seems that I may be in the minority as far as wanting to clean the coop every day, but I don't like the idea of the deep litter method. It seems to use the deep litter method you need a pretty good size coop.
I would love to hear some suggestions and ideas of what has worked for someone else. I've added pictures of the coop. In addition to the coop, they have a large fenced in area.
