I have a flock of 23 hens, four breeds. They are all producers of large brown eggs. Listed are three things that have helped me to keep my coop clean and clean-smelling. (My coop is 8' X 16" and is a walk-in coop.) I have had chickens for around 18 months give or take. What I am writing in this post works very well, and is very easy to do.
1. Install poop boards 24" wide and at least equal to the length of the roosts. Scrape them clean, daily. Put roosts 12" from wall. This insures that all of the poop stays on the poop board and none falls on the floor or splatters the wall of the coop. If you can find them, use old kitchen counter tops. The formica is super easy to scrape with a drywall knife or extra-lide putty knife. Linoleum over OSB is a 2nd choice. I keep a plastic tote box with a lid to scrape the poop into. Periodically it goes into my garden or in summertime, around my shrub beds, raspberry patch, or blueberry bushes, or fruit trees. Keep the lid on and snapped down and store the poop box under one of the poop boards.
2. Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. It is nearly impossible to have too much unless maybe you are in Alaska or parts of Canada. I have full lenth soffit vents, front and rear, two gable end vents, and a 14" roof turbine vent. There is a ceiling fan beneath the turbine vent for hot weather to help vent heat from the coop . I have two double-hung sash, one at each end of the coop. In addition, I have two large windows that are hinged at the top so as to open outwards at their bottoms for yet more ventilation. My 4 windows are never closed completely no matter the temperatures. My coop is dry, dry, dry. That is very important in preventing lung ailments and frostbite, as well as odor. I even keep an old box fan at one end of the coop on a board at windowsill height. In the AM when I go out to let my inmates out for the day, I turn on the box fan before I scrape the poop boards. When I am done filling the feed troughs, I turn off the box fan. It helps to 'clear the air' more quickly.
3. A covered roost outside. This is something you will find to be a big plus in keeping your coop cleaner and clean smelling. On really rainy days the chooks used to like to perch inside my coop and stare out those big windows. So they would poop all day on the poop boards and stink up the coop on rainy days. They were also also roaming around on the floor of the coop so they would poop more there too, being inside so much. So, I installed a piece of pressure treated decking on edge to make a roost underneath the coop at one end where it rests on legs. It is now their favorite rainy day hangout. It is around 10 ft long and about a foot off of the ground. They love it, and I seldom see poop either in the litter or on the poop boards during the entire day, no matter what the weather is. You could easily make a covered perch outside tho, in their run. It could be 24" wide and a little longer than the roost pole. Corrugated steel/aluminum/fiberglass sheets come in 10 ft lengths and would be perfect for this.
4. Use deep litter for the floor. 6" or more. I have linoleum glued over OSB and caulked all around so that bacteria and pests will have no place to hide from my annual cleaning. I use only grass clippings. They are free, and they smell good too. If needed in wintertime, I will add Hay . I only replace the litter and wash down the floor once a year. That is all that is needed. I have 96 sq ft and 23 hens. Each AM I scout around on the floor and on the rare occasion that I see poop, I simply pluck up a handful of litter and toss on top of it.
There you have it. Four things that have worked very well for me. Any time you walk into my coop, you will only smell the grass clippings that I use for litter, and the smell of their feed ration. (unless you accompany me when I first open the coop in the AM.)
1. Install poop boards 24" wide and at least equal to the length of the roosts. Scrape them clean, daily. Put roosts 12" from wall. This insures that all of the poop stays on the poop board and none falls on the floor or splatters the wall of the coop. If you can find them, use old kitchen counter tops. The formica is super easy to scrape with a drywall knife or extra-lide putty knife. Linoleum over OSB is a 2nd choice. I keep a plastic tote box with a lid to scrape the poop into. Periodically it goes into my garden or in summertime, around my shrub beds, raspberry patch, or blueberry bushes, or fruit trees. Keep the lid on and snapped down and store the poop box under one of the poop boards.
2. Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. It is nearly impossible to have too much unless maybe you are in Alaska or parts of Canada. I have full lenth soffit vents, front and rear, two gable end vents, and a 14" roof turbine vent. There is a ceiling fan beneath the turbine vent for hot weather to help vent heat from the coop . I have two double-hung sash, one at each end of the coop. In addition, I have two large windows that are hinged at the top so as to open outwards at their bottoms for yet more ventilation. My 4 windows are never closed completely no matter the temperatures. My coop is dry, dry, dry. That is very important in preventing lung ailments and frostbite, as well as odor. I even keep an old box fan at one end of the coop on a board at windowsill height. In the AM when I go out to let my inmates out for the day, I turn on the box fan before I scrape the poop boards. When I am done filling the feed troughs, I turn off the box fan. It helps to 'clear the air' more quickly.
3. A covered roost outside. This is something you will find to be a big plus in keeping your coop cleaner and clean smelling. On really rainy days the chooks used to like to perch inside my coop and stare out those big windows. So they would poop all day on the poop boards and stink up the coop on rainy days. They were also also roaming around on the floor of the coop so they would poop more there too, being inside so much. So, I installed a piece of pressure treated decking on edge to make a roost underneath the coop at one end where it rests on legs. It is now their favorite rainy day hangout. It is around 10 ft long and about a foot off of the ground. They love it, and I seldom see poop either in the litter or on the poop boards during the entire day, no matter what the weather is. You could easily make a covered perch outside tho, in their run. It could be 24" wide and a little longer than the roost pole. Corrugated steel/aluminum/fiberglass sheets come in 10 ft lengths and would be perfect for this.
4. Use deep litter for the floor. 6" or more. I have linoleum glued over OSB and caulked all around so that bacteria and pests will have no place to hide from my annual cleaning. I use only grass clippings. They are free, and they smell good too. If needed in wintertime, I will add Hay . I only replace the litter and wash down the floor once a year. That is all that is needed. I have 96 sq ft and 23 hens. Each AM I scout around on the floor and on the rare occasion that I see poop, I simply pluck up a handful of litter and toss on top of it.
There you have it. Four things that have worked very well for me. Any time you walk into my coop, you will only smell the grass clippings that I use for litter, and the smell of their feed ration. (unless you accompany me when I first open the coop in the AM.)
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