Deep Litter method or Sand??

[Laurarenee333]

So is this thread about how to clean up chicken poop? Because it is easy to clean in the coops, I just clear out the paper I have on the ground, sweep and wipe the floor clean. Last night I tried my first attempt at cleaning the ground in the runs outside and it was not a very successful attempt! Their outside area is just on top of the grass... so I'm guessing that was my first mistake because when I tried to get some of the clumps of poop up it just pulled up the grass. So... as a first time chicken owner, should I have done something before hand. And obviously I didn't, should I pull up the grass now and lay down sand or litter... because getting this poop out of the grass is **** near impossible! Sorry to sound so silly but any advice would be helpful!

 

[Betty1964]

I am doing neither sand nor deep litter. I have 26 hens and 2 roosters in my 10 x 16 raised coop. My roosts are above a one inch deep bed of Sweet PDZ (granular) which we scoop daily and put in the compost pile. In the nesting boxes we have straw. On the floor, I use Equine Pine Pellets from my local farm supply. It is far more absorbent than pine shavings with a lot less smell. As it absorbs, it breaks down into sawdust that biodegrades in the compost pile very fast. My wonderful husband looked at how much work it took to clean the old coop floor and said "this will not do." He built a clean out door that he can pull the front end loader up to and just shove all of the pine into the bucket and haul it away.

Our cleaning routine is fairly simple.
-- Once a week, we remove the old straw from the nesting boxes, spray them down with orange infused vinegar, and wipe. Then we add new straw. This takes about fifteen minutes for twelve boxes.
-- Every two to three weeks (depending on the weather) we push out the old floor pine, sweep, spray with the vinegar, give a light dusting of DE, and add new pine pellets. This takes about an hour.
-- About once a month we add a little more PDZ to make up for what we have scooped out. At the same time, we refresh the chickens' dirt bath. This takes from five minutes to twenty minutes, depending on how many chickens we have to fight for access to the dirt bath...lol.

Oddly enough, grandkids seem to think these jobs are wonderful tasks to help grandma with. If you have small ones helping you, double the time it would normally take...and enjoy it to the fullest. You are growing future farmers.

 

[Lelilamom]

I'm voting Sand or dirt. Your deep litter will probably turn to mush. Then rot, attract flies and smell. We have a 25 foot run that is covered with metal roofing at a 12/7 pitch with a 12" overhang and when it rains, the run still gets completely soaked. We have sand and DE it. It dries in a few hours. We rake it out easily. In the coop we use straw.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

So is this thread about how to clean up chicken poop?  Because it is easy to clean in the coops, I just clear out the paper I have on the ground, sweep and wipe the floor clean.  Last night I tried my first attempt at cleaning the ground in the runs outside and it was not a very successful attempt!  Their outside area is just on top of the grass... so I'm guessing that was my first mistake because when I tried to get some of the clumps of poop up it just pulled up the grass.  So... as a first time chicken owner, should I have done something before hand.  And obviously I didn't, should I pull up the grass now and lay down sand or litter... because getting this poop out of the grass is **** near impossible!  Sorry to sound so silly but any advice would be helpful!

I would pull the grass lay down a peice of plastic and put sand in the run and just take a cat pooper scooper once a day and scoop put he poop and it keeps away the smell and scooping up the poop helps keep flys away.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I'm voting Sand or dirt.  Your deep litter will probably turn to mush.  Then rot, attract flies and smell.  We have a 25 foot run that is covered with metal roofing at a 12/7 pitch with a 12" overhang and when it rains, the run still gets completely soaked.  We have sand and DE it.  It dries in a few hours.  We rake it out easily.  In the coop we use straw.

I wouldn't do the sand though because the sand will just build up poop so fast with the amount of hens they are wanting for the size of the run its going to smell. And be nothing but a layer of poop.

 

[Neolones]

Thank you Betty, I am definitely going to use Sweet PDZ, in conjunction with Sand.

 

[Anujin]

I'm in Austin with six pullets who recently moved out to our coop/covered run. We use sand in both the coop and the run and on a hot Texas summer day the ladies *love* to dig a shallow, cool spot in the sand. Highly recommend going with sand in our climate!

 

[Neolones]

Thank you Anujin, I have made up my mind, and will go with sand inside the coop and in the covered run.

 

[Lelilamom]

I wouldn't do the sand though because the sand will just build up poop so fast with the amount of hens they are wanting for the size of the run its going to smell. And be nothing but a layer of poop.

The poster only wanted 6 hens. We have 35 hens in our 25 ft run and 8ft coop. The poop doesn't build up - it breaks up and what does clump we rake out. We dig out our run and replace the sand 1x a year. Our 35 girls free range during the day.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Yes but see they are let out to free range they arnt penned up in the run so all of that poo doesn't build up. Like my coop I have 21 chickens in a 4x8 coop and I have to clean it every 2-3 days because the poo just builds up in huge clumps.


And how big is your coop you said with that many hens. If yo said 8 foot like a 4x8 that's way to small for that many hens that might be big enough for 12. But I am thinking you meant 8x8 that should be big enough as long as you have enough roosts space.