Coop Poop

[txkittykat]

So...we're trying to design a small coop (4 hens) and we're curious what's the best way to clean the poop from the coop? Do you hose it out? Sweep? I'm lost and want to design something that's easy to clean and maneuver with the manure. I was thinking even a tile floor? I am in over my head I think....Pictures are always helpful and thank you for taking the time to help us!

 

[MeepBeep]

For a small coop you will likely find that a single sheet linoleum floor will be best... Then comes your choice of bedding, some prefer sand that they can scoop out of, other prefer wood shavings that they can sweep out, while others use a deep litter method or variations of all the above...

Easy to clean poop ledges under the roosting area will drastically reduce floor clean up...

 

[jimbob86]

I went the chicken tractor route, with 1/4" hardware cloth screens under the roost .... drag a hoe across it once a day and the poop is on the ground below ..... move the tractor again the next morning...... rinse and repeat.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1012583/thoughts-on-my-chicken-tractor

For 4 hens, you would not need anywhere near the size mine is...... look @ Birdsinbethel's ....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/birdsinbethels-chicken-coop-tractor

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is a hard question to answer because there are so many different ways to go about it. In Arlington you are not worried about cold, heat is your enemy, so you should build a well ventilated coop. Good ventilation means it will dry out pretty quickly which helps. Also, in your climate the chickens can and should spend a lot of time outside which reduces the poop load in your coop. If you provide good shade in your run so they will spend a lot of time outside you help the poop load in the coop. Feeding and watering outside also reduces poop load in the coop. Think of the coop and run as a system, not the coop or run in isolation.

Some poop in the coop is not a big deal as long as it is dry. Wet poop is a problem. Wet poop will stink and can harbor diseases. It can get wet either from outside moisture or if it builds up thick enough it will not dry out. You don’t want the poop to get out of hand but if you keep it dry you don’t necessarily have to clean every day. If you clean really often and use bedding you will wind up with a huge pile of bedding. That’s expensive to buy and what do you do with that huge volume?

Most of the poop in the coop should come at night while they are on the roosts. Have you researched a dropping board? Again there are so many different ways to do it, but essentially you are collecting the poop that falls at night and getting it out of your coop so you don’t have to clean the coop itself very often. My set-up is a lot different than yours will be so what I do won’t work for you but a real popular method is to provide a shelf under the roosts that extend at least 12” past the roosts. Many people put linoleum on that to help scrape it off. Some people build trays and put some type of bedding on that to absorb the moisture. You can set bins on the floor under the roosts to catch the poop. Some people build trays that slide out so they can get the poop.

Some people clean their dropping board every day and/or clean out the coop weekly. I’m way at the other extreme. My flock varies in size from 8 to over 40 chickens in a season. My coop and dropping board are pretty large. I have a lot of good habitat outside and a good climate so they don’t spend much time in the coop at any season. You have an even better climate. Sometimes I need to scrape my droppings board weekly, sometimes I can go 3 to even 4 weeks between scrapes. I have a large walk-in coop with wood shavings as bedding and frankly never have to clean it out. I do every few years just because I want that stuff on my garden. As I said, my situation is different to yours so what I do won’t work for you. I believe cleaning out the entire coop is something that needs to be done as seldom as possible but when it needs to be cleaned, it needs to be cleaned.

If you can’t guess, my first suggestion is to incorporate some type of dropping board in your design. Build you coop so you have access to clean, especially the droppings board. A little extra room might make your life a lot easier when you are working in there. If you elevate your coop it’s nice to be able to just rake the stuff out into a wheelbarrow or a bin. Have a plan for what you are going to do with the stuff you take out. My compost pile greatly benefits from the pure poop I take off my droppings board.

Give some thought to your run. Make it a nice habitat for them, which mainly means shade. Sunshine comes in from the sides as well as from the top. You can run into poop problems in the run too. Build it so it either stays pretty dry or dries out pretty fast after a rain. That means it needs to be high enough that rainwater does not run into it and it will drain after it gets wet. Good ventilation helps it dry too. When it is wet you can toss some scratch in the run so the chickens scratch it up for you to help it dry out.

If you can, make the run larger than you think you need to. If the run is too small the poop can get concentrated out there too.

You are not in over your head. It’s really easy to keep chickens where I am with oversized facilities and lots of outside room. But there are lots of people in suburbia that are very happy with their chickens and don’t work over-hard. Pay attention to what they tell you. But do give them as much room as you can. That does make it easier on you.

Good luck!

 

[ChickenMammX4]

I have 6 hens. There is a poop board under the roost, it's filled with Sweet PDZ. This collects most of the poop. The PDZ absorbs odor and moisture. What falls on the coop floor, which is filled with pine shavings, dries up and gets turned under by the chickens naturally scratching. Everyday or two I scoop the poop from the poopboad and throw it on the compose pile. Takes maybe 5 min.
I have yet to clean the coop floor this year, will do that in fall and throw it on the garden.

Our coop is 8' x 9' but the hens have a large covered run so they aren't inside much. Make your coop larger than you think you will need.