does my coop/ run cleanliness plan seem sound?

[ChickenMamaC]

I'm thinking I will do deep litter in the actual coop. It has a poop board, which i though I might put a layer of sand and Sweet PDZ in so I can just scoop it in the mornings.
The run itself is dirt. I wasn't planning to add litter of any sort to the run. But how often should I rake it out?
How often do you clean surfaces-- roosts, etc?

I am really hoping to keep flies to a minimum. I read an article about flystrike the other day, and let's just say it STRUCK fear in my heart!

 

[snow5164]

Some love deep litter , there really is a science to it, I ended up with mold and changed to sand .5 years later and I love it .its dry easy to scoop ,no smell and easy on my feet and theirs . They dust bathe in it . Poop boards are just sand cleaned everyday in winter , every second in summer.

My run was beautiful grass for about 4 minutes , now it’s dirt. Any hard sand goes in the run, also we add straw bedding from the barns to runway and the turn that over to beautiful compost ... earn their keep We add put grass clippings in run too.
I scoop and put sand on roosts everyday , I don’t spray it clean in there more then once a year in spring .I Wash walls, remove solid sand by waterer and apply DE in all corners .spray vinegar on poopy spots ....

 

[rosemarythyme]

Most coops aren't terribly conducive to deep litter, does yours have a dirt floor?

I'm not keen on having nothing in the run at all, because it'll end up a muddy mess if it rains, and dusty when dried out, and it gives nothing extra for the chickens to dig through, which is something they enjoy. Deep litter IMO is far better in a run than a coop. I use wood chips in my coop, and those get raked into the run to become part of the deep litter there.

I don't usually clean surfaces at all. If there's poop on something I scrape it off, but that's not an issue with a round roost bar.

 

[PetesChicks]

I use deep litter in the run and what I call deep litter in the coop. Some people will tell you that you need a dirt floor for DL to work, but you don’t really. The coop is a plywood floor with Blackjack 57, and about 6-8” of shavings, and I use a poop board with sand & PDZ. The poop board gets scooped a couple times a week, and that goes into the compost pile. The shavings on the floor stay dry and don’t smell. I add shavings to it every month or so, as they break down.

Every so often I’ll get a wheelbarrow load of shavings from the coop and throw them in the run, and I also add cut grass after it’s had a day or 2 to dry out. About once a year I’ll do a full clean of the coop, and all the shavings go in the run. The girls love it, I just dump the wheelbarrow in there and they scratch through it and level it out. The run dries out quick after a rain, and doesn’t smell either.

 

[blackdog043]

I am really hoping to keep flies to a minimum. I read an article about flystrike the other day, and let's just say it STRUCK fear in my heart!

If your using a poop board in the coop, do deep bedding(dry) with wood shavings not DL. The difference between the two, deep bedding is dry and DL is composting (moist). As DL breaks down it creates a nice rich black soil.

If you want to keep the fly's away, scoop your boards daily, if possible and use PDZ instead of sand. PDZ helps keep the ammonia smell down in the coop. Don't leave your run dirt. Chicken poop on dirt turns to a crust, your chickens will be stepping in poop all day long and poop draws fly's. If you use deep litter in your run. The chickens poop, it gets mixed in the DL, everything breaks down and gives you a nice nutrient rich soil to use. As the DL breaks down add more stuff, it should not have bad odors or draw many fly's. DL isn't rocket science, it's just keeping a good mix of different size stuff so it doesn't compact down. (like a pile of leaves)

 

[PetesChicks]

If your using a poop board in the coop, do deep bedding(dry) with wood shavings not DL. The difference between the two, deep bedding is dry and DL is composting (moist). As DL breaks down it creates a nice rich black soil.

DEEP BEDDING! I knew I was calling what I do the wrong name.

And x2 on mixing up different size stuff in the DL in the run.

 

[Spartan22]

I'm thinking I will do deep litter in the actual coop. It has a poop board, which i though I might put a layer of sand and Sweet PDZ in so I can just scoop it in the mornings.
The run itself is dirt. I wasn't planning to add litter of any sort to the run. But how often should I rake it out?
How often do you clean surfaces-- roosts, etc?

I am really hoping to keep flies to a minimum. I read an article about flystrike the other day, and let's just say it STRUCK fear in my heart!

Poop boards works great for me, I got 4 of them with mix of shavings, sand and pdz, clean up every morning 5-10 minutes tops, and that’s with 25+ chickens. In coop floor I got mixed of 5” shavings and sand, keeps the coop clean and dry. I scrape roosting bars once a year (every spring) they’re normally get pine shavings-wiped (gloves on hands) them every morning anyways when I scoop the poop boards.

On run flooring, I also use sand and pine shavings except it’s around 8-10” thick which I take 1/3 out and renew 1 to 2x a year depends on how it looks, works really great no smell and mostly dry since I added clear roofing on the rest of the run, learning from previous years of muddy mess and puddles therefore smell.

*Fly control? I used hanging fly ribbons inside and out of the coop, very effective as long as you keep it secure way up away from chickens access but that’s an advantage from having high ceiling/roof. I hope this gave you a little insights to address some of your concerns.