Do you Clean out poop from the run?

[QODTMWTD]

Curious to know if you all clean out poop from the run? I added pine bark nuggets and mix it around and it seems to be ok for now. Today, the edges of the run are getting muddy bc of the rain coming in from the sides. I'm reading to use pelletized bedding, but then it turns to sawdust. Are ppl picking out poop from it or just turning it often and letting everything just eventually become one with the dirt floor?

We use old wood shavings in the run after they've been cleared out of the coop. The run has a dirt surface so we rake the old shavings periodically to stir things up. The run's covered but the sides are just hardware cloth so in many places the shavings get wet when it rains. Mixing the wet with the dry by raking helps dry things out and mixes the droppings and shavings and helps the decomposition occur more evenly. We prefer shavings to nuggets because shavings break down faster and absorb moisture better. So the short answer is no, we don't clean poo from the run, but we do tend the run material with occasional raking.

 

[Wrapped In Love]

Curious to know if you all clean out poop from the run? I added pine bark nuggets and mix it around and it seems to be ok for now. Today, the edges of the run are getting muddy bc of the rain coming in from the sides. I'm reading to use pelletized bedding, but then it turns to sawdust. Are ppl picking out poop from it or just turning it often and letting everything just eventually become one with the dirt floor?

Hi, I can't say I know much, but when we cut the grass I add a few bags of grass for the chickens to pick through. They love it. On occasion I use a tiller to break the ground up to make it easier for the chickens to get cool and or dust themselves.

 

[bubba0522]

Curious to know if you all clean out poop from the run? I added pine bark nuggets and mix it around and it seems to be ok for now. Today, the edges of the run are getting muddy bc of the rain coming in from the sides. I'm reading to use pelletized bedding, but then it turns to sawdust. Are ppl picking out poop from it or just turning it often and letting everything just eventually become one with the dirt floor?

We clean the coop and run(sand) every other day to keep our chickens as happy as possible. The happier they are the more they will lay.

 

[SamIamNam786]

I started going to the run daily to look for poop to pick up this week...its so hard to spot bc they are flattened and camouflaged

 

[jBabychickn]

I couldn't find peat moss at tsc last time I went, otherwise I'd have added that!

that's expensive for straw and hay,no? Id
pay a little more and get the hemp. And add in sweet pdz from tsc.

I agree

 

[jBabychickn]

I never clean the run. Here is my yearly schedule, spring and fall. I shovel out as much compost as I need for the gardens. That includes providing for family. I remove all the pine shavings from the coop and dump in the run. So that is 6 months of coop poop added to the run. I also add fall cleanup leaves and grass to the run. Both coop and run lack any offensive odor. Just yesterday the run got a two foot layer of leaves grass and pine needles. Today it is spread and down to about 4” .

I should add that the run is covered but heavy rains soak the bedding. A bit like a forest. This has worked for me and the girls for 6+ years.

Thanks for the photo! That really helps!

 

[gtaus]

I’ve never cleaned my run. My current setup is 4 years old. I use a cold compost system of wood chips, dry leaves, grass clippings and other miscellaneous yard waste that I throw in periodically throughout the year. The chickens turn it over when scratching and it just composts in place. It doesn’t look dirty, smell, get muddy, or freeze solid in the winter. I love it!

That's what I do as well. I converted my chicken run into a chicken run composting system over 3 years ago and never looked back. I harvest my chicken run compost about twice a year, but I have so much compost in the run that I never use it all up. This spring, I took out over 24 cubic feet of chicken run compost for the raised garden beds and estimate that was maybe 10%, or less, of the compost ready to harvest in my chicken run.

I only clean out my chicken coop twice a year. I use deep bedding in the coop and just add fresh thin layers of litter (currently using paper shreds) maybe once or twice a month. All the old litter gets tossed into the chicken run composting system. The paper shreds compost much faster than wood chips I used to use as coop litter. I have also used dried leaves, but they can be pretty dusty. I have found, for me, that paper shreds are the best free coop litter, and they compost faster than the other litters I have used.

If you let your chicken run litter build up and compost, chances are the composting litter will be full of tasty bugs and juicy worms in no time. My chickens are outside scratching and pecking in the compost litter all day long finding stuff to eat. My commercial feed bill goes down in half in the non-snow months. I could not be happier with the decision I made to convert my chicken run into a chicken run composting system.

 

[K0k0shka]

That's what I do as well. I converted my chicken run into a chicken run composting system over 3 years ago and never looked back. I harvest my chicken run compost about twice a year, but I have so much compost in the run that I never use it all up. This spring, I took out over 24 cubic feet of chicken run compost for the raised garden beds and estimate that was maybe 10%, or less, of the compost ready to harvest in my chicken run.

I only clean out my chicken coop twice a year. I use deep bedding in the coop and just add fresh thin layers of litter (currently using paper shreds) maybe once or twice a month. All the old litter gets tossed into the chicken run composting system. The paper shreds compost much faster than wood chips I used to use as coop litter. I have also used dried leaves, but they can be pretty dusty. I have found, for me, that paper shreds are the best free coop litter, and they compost faster than the other litters I have used.

If you let your chicken run litter build up and compost, chances are the composting litter will be full of tasty bugs and juicy worms in no time. My chickens are outside scratching and pecking in the compost litter all day long finding stuff to eat. My commercial feed bill goes down in half in the non-snow months. I could not be happier with the decision I made to convert my chicken run into a chicken run composting system.

I clean out my coop twice a year, too. That and the compost run are a delightfully lazy yet really effective system, I love it!

One thing to point out though. The feed bill goes down in the warm months because chickens eat less overall when it’s not cold. In the winter they expend a lot of energy generating and maintaining body heat, so they eat more.

 

[gtaus]

One thing to point out though. The feed bill goes down in the warm months because chickens eat less overall when it’s not cold. In the winter they expend a lot of energy generating and maintaining body heat, so they eat more.

I guess that makes sense. But I also know that my chickens are scratching and pecking in the compost all day long when the run is snow-free. They seem to be eating all day outside in the compost. When I harvest some of the chicken run compost, it is full of bugs and worms.

 

[FrannyNZooey]

This is our first year with chickens, so it’s interesting to read everybody’s practices! I like the idea of rotating the coop litter to the run litter to the compost.

We have both an inner enclosed run that’s 4’x9’, which is enclosed by an outer run that’s about 12’x20’ that is behind the garage. I haven’t really touched their inner run. It’s base is dirt topped with a combo of bark and pine shavings, and the occasional herbs thrown in there.

Their outer run has about 3’ of pavers all around laying on top of skirted hardware cloth. Areas not covered by pavers have bark on top or just the native dirt. I’ll clean the pavers with a kitty litter scoop and spatulas about once a day.

It’s kind of a mixed bag for what we do with the coop bedding. Sometime we’ll toss it around so the poop gets incorporated, other times we’ll scoop it out and add it to the compost bin.

So far so good, and no smells!