I was curious as to how others clean out the poops from your runs and coops. Mine is all open bottomed. I biult my coop from a shed with the floor out and backed it to a large dog pen with a fenced top for security so I can move them around to clean. Well, I don`t clean. I put an ad on CL for "free chicken maure" and get alot of responses. Got some guy coming with a tractor to dig it out, hay and all! Hehehee... I got someone else to doo the dirty work, for free... hehehee. So how do you all get your set ups cleaned?
I deep litter method, so in a couple months, I'll just grab a shovel, and shovel the coop litter into a wheelbarrow and dump into my garden. Spread it out, and till under after a month or so. Once a year cleaning is my style As for the run, I don't do anything. We throw a lot of stuff in there, especially garden weedings (both us and the neighbors), and they scratch everything up and whatever they don't eat gets worked into the soil.
My run is on a slope with a trench at the end of the slope and I clean it out regularly for compost. We sweep and mop the coop every week unless it's a holiday and I let it go two weeks.
The litter I have in there now was placed down in there last April. I haven't top dressed or anything. I just throw a cupful of BOSS out every couple days, and the chickens turn the litter for me. Very little smell, and it looks nice still
Here's my coop. I don't clean out the run (the chickens are normally free-ranging) but for the coop I bring some wood, crawl into the coop, and shove the wood shavings out with the wood block into a wheelbarrow. Then I put in fresh shavings.
I use the deep litter method as well and so inside and for my poop board, I use a kitty litter scoop. For the outside, I use a pooper scooper pan and a small rake that comes with it. Works well for me.
I take a snow shovel and pull all of the poopy shavings out the door, then shovel into a wheel barrow.
I have a bunch of pens for my larger chickens, that are on sand. I dust with Ag lime, sevin dust, and put down a layer of fresh hay.... in no time it looks like I didn't.... but at least I know I did... hehe My bantams are mostly in a big bantam barn on wire floors. I can just rake up and put in a wheel barrel and burn it.
