Do you Clean out poop from the run?

[TinyT-rexMomma]

Where do you spray the mixture? In the coop or the run?

Both. And the nest boxes. I use 50/50 mix of water to white vinegar in a quart spray bottle, 20 drops each sweet orange and peppermint essential oil. Shake and spray a light mist over everything. I do this every other day, but scrape daily.
You can also use lavender in place of orange if your chooks are flighty.

 

[azygous]

All runs should receive regular attention, I believe. Even deep litter runs as @rosemarythyme mentioned needs regularly turning to prevent unhealthy anaerobic microbes. I wasn't into my first flock of chickens six months before I realized I didn't want to live with a smelly, poopy run, and I didn't want my chickens living in filth.

I used tree mulch for bedding at first, but it was difficult to pick up the poop. My climate is far too arid for composting deep litter. Then I heard of sand. That's been my bedding ever since. I use a cat litter box scoop to pick up the poop several times a day whenever I go out to visit and play with my flock. I have never minded effort to a good end.

Later, I swapped out pine shavings in my coops for sand, as well. I absolutely love having clean smelling coops. Chickens are healthier and happier not wallowing in poop and breathing in the fumes.

 

[SamIamNam786]

All runs should receive regular attention, I believe. Even deep litter runs as @rosemarythyme mentioned needs regularly turning to prevent unhealthy anaerobic microbes. I wasn't into my first flock of chickens six months before I realized I didn't want to live with a smelly, poopy run, and I didn't want my chickens living in filth.

I used tree mulch for bedding at first, but it was difficult to pick up the poop. My climate is far too arid for composting deep litter. Then I heard of sand. That's been my bedding ever since. I use a cat litter box scoop to pick up the poop several times a day whenever I go out to visit and play with my flock. I have never minded effort to a good end.

Later, I swapped out pine shavings in my coops for sand, as well. I absolutely love having clean smelling coops. Chickens are healthier and happier not wallowing in poop and breathing in the fumes.

The past few days my mulch has been going into the compost bin if it had too much dropping on it.im thinking about pellets for now.

 

[gtaus]

All runs should receive regular attention, I believe. Even deep litter runs as @rosemarythyme mentioned needs regularly turning to prevent unhealthy anaerobic microbes.

I think that depends largely on how many chickens you have, how big your chicken run is, and what litter materials you use. I use mostly grass clippings and leaves in my chicken run, and I rarely ever need to give it any attention. The chickens are constantly scratching and pecking in the compost, keeping it fresh. Because there are so many leaves in my run, I don't think it every gets anaerobic.

My climate is far too arid for composting deep litter.

We had a drought summer a few years ago. I had to set up a sprinkler to wet down the chicken run maybe once a week to keep it at that golden wrung out sponge stage that we like for cold composting. Other than that one summer, I have never had to wet down the chicken run litter because normal rainfall has always been enough.

Chickens are healthier and happier not wallowing in poop and breathing in the fumes.

Absolutely. The nose knows. If you smell something off in a deep bedding or deep litter system, it is usually corrected with more carbon materials. I only clean out my coop litter twice a year, and there is almost no smell at all to deal with. If I start to get a hint of ammonia, I'll add another layer of litter on top of the old bedding. The trick is to have a thick layer base of deep bedding, so the chicken poo automagically disappears into the litter, dries out, and does not smell. The only time I have had to deal with any smells is when I did not have a thick enough deep bedding base to start with.

If I had to clean out the coop and/or chicken run every week to keep it smelling fresh, I don't think I would bother to keep a backyard flock. That's just too much work for me. But using the deep bedding litter system in the coop and the deep litter composting out in the chicken run is just great for me. Plus, I get hundreds of dollars worth of finished compost every year, with just 10 chickens in the coop!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I think that depends largely on how many chickens you have, how big your chicken run is, and what litter materials you use. I use mostly grass clippings and leaves in my chicken run, and I rarely ever need to give it any attention. The chickens are constantly scratching and pecking in the compost, keeping it fresh. Because there are so many leaves in my run, I don't think it every gets anaerobic.

Climate, soil type, probably a few other factors matter too. For me, strictly grass clipping and leaves would just mat down and cause mud and odor. So I absolutely need wood chips for aeration and drainage to control that, which is why I put in a new layer of chips after my recent cleanout, and now I can add buckets of leaves every few days as my trees continue to "molt."

I probably won't need to rake or overturn the run litter this year. But as it starts breaking down I do need to break it up with a hoe a couple times a year, as well as add more chips.

 

[gtaus]

I probably won't need to rake or overturn the run litter this year. But as it starts breaking down I do need to break it up with a hoe a couple times a year, as well as add more chips.

When I get to that point, I just try to fork it into a garden cart and haul it over to the compost sifter. I sift out the finished compost and toss the rejects back into the run.

One thing I have found to be a real labor saver - compared to a manual hoe - is using my tiller attachment on my power head....

I take off the plate above the tines because the larger pieces of unfinished compost will jam between the tines and that plate if not removed. That mini tiler really chews through the compost in no time. Sometimes I use that to break up the compost before I fork it into the garden cart.

It also works great to mix in wood chips with the leaf and grass compost as well.

I'm at an age where I don't mind using powered tools to save me some labor. The mini tiller saves a lot of work compared to using a hoe. For the amount of compost I deal with, the mini tiller is one of my favorite tools.

 

[rosemarythyme]

When I get to that point, I just try to fork it into a garden cart and haul it over to the compost sifter. I sift out the finished compost and toss the rejects back into the run.

One thing I have found to be a real labor saver - compared to a manual hoe - is using my tiller attachment on my power head....

View attachment 3666894

I take off the plate above the tines because the larger pieces of unfinished compost will jam between the tines and that plate if not removed. That mini tiler really chews through the compost in no time. Sometimes I use that to break up the compost before I fork it into the garden cart.

It also works great to mix in wood chips with the leaf and grass compost as well.

I'm at an age where I don't mind using powered tools to save me some labor. The mini tiller saves a lot of work compared to using a hoe. For the amount of compost I deal with, the mini tiller is one of my favorite tools.

If I worked with more compost or had a bigger run, I'd probably need a bigger toolkit, but I think I've gotten a routine down that works for me at this point. As long as I mind the amount of chips vs leaves and grass, the litter shouldn't compact down enough to become difficult to manage.

I'd gotten a bit lazy with adding chips about 2-3 years ago, and that's when I found myself needing to break up the run litter more frequently.

 

[gtaus]

If I worked with more compost or had a bigger run, I'd probably need a bigger toolkit, but I think I've gotten a routine down that works for me at this point.

That's why I mentioned that I have a larger composting system than I suspect other people might have.

As long as I mind the amount of chips vs leaves and grass, the litter shouldn't compact down enough to become difficult to manage.

My chicken run composting litter is about 18 inches deep in the front of the run and tapers down to about 4-6 inches at the end of the run. My run is about 13X36 feet. That's a lot of material composting in there. It would be too much for me to turn over with a manual hoe. If I had a smaller setup or less composting material, I could get by with a hoe.

 

[ChicksnMore]

When I get to that point, I just try to fork it into a garden cart and haul it over to the compost sifter. I sift out the finished compost and toss the rejects back into the run.

One thing I have found to be a real labor saver - compared to a manual hoe - is using my tiller attachment on my power head....

View attachment 3666894

I take off the plate above the tines because the larger pieces of unfinished compost will jam between the tines and that plate if not removed. That mini tiler really chews through the compost in no time. Sometimes I use that to break up the compost before I fork it into the garden cart.

It also works great to mix in wood chips with the leaf and grass compost as well.

I'm at an age where I don't mind using powered tools to save me some labor. The mini tiller saves a lot of work compared to using a hoe. For the amount of compost I deal with, the mini tiller is one of my favorite tools.

Do you think that tool would handle heavy clay soil or is it only good with humusy stuff?

 

[Windywillow]

I don't know anything about pellets I've never used them. I just put sand over the dirt and mud

I am fixing to try the pellets because i use them for my horse stalls AND cat litter and sooooo much more economical . They might be alot dustier than just dirt and sand tho