how aften do you clean your coop

[valreegrl]

I use shavings and empty once a week (completely) and add new shavings. However, I only use enough to cover the bottom (wood floor) with a little padding. Not too deep. Every other day I take their food and water out, empty/clean and refill. They have one in the coop and one outside as they free-range.

But, since everyone is a clean freak on this thread

I would love to ask your opinions......

How do you clean your roosts?

I wire brush mine which gets most, but they could use a good scrubbing. But, we made the mistake and installing them with screws, so they are not easily taken out of the coop.

 

[thomas h]

I had problems before with the dampness.stinky moldy and buggy happens very quickly
The chickens are under tarp that 's leaking with a downpour .
Its raining every day .So I need to rake the straw every two days and spread a hand full of fresh staw . then its dry till the next downpour.

normally I rake it up and new straw every week a little at a time ,, Just enough to keep the stone dust floor not poopy .
IT does not take very long to rack it . a few minutes and on the cart and composted for the flower garden for now

The smell is what I go by for the indoor coups. and those are my breeding birds ,A large indoor coup per pair so its good for a month. probably longer but I clean it any ways ,,,,,when I clean the dryed on poop.
I use wood ashes as well .

thomas

 

[Puck-Puck]

Good grief, if I had to spend an hour cleaning the coop and an hour cleaning the run, each week, I wouldn't keep chickens. I have yet to clean the coop; mind you, they've only been in it for about five weeks; still, they're in the coop and not the run, most of the time. I guess it helps that this is a pretty dry area...so far THIS year, anyhow. The coop is well ventilated. I use the deep litter method with pine shavings, albeit on a wood floor, and the litter really isn't that deep yet. The poo just dries up and becomes part of the litter, the same day as it's deposited, it seems. There are fewer flies in the coop than there are outdoors (the chickens chase and eat them); and there is little odor. What I smell, if and when there is a smell, is like a well-tended outhouse with pine deodorizer. It's not unpleasant to my nose; it's outdoorsy and reminds me of camping. If it gets a little stronger or ammonia-y, I add more litter and the problem is solved. I hope to get this batch of ever-deepening litter to last until spring, before I clean. The girls are clean and healthy. I love it!

ETA: I don't rake or stir the litter, either. The chooks obligingly do that!

 

[The Zoo]

I use pine shavings in my coop and nesting boxes, they get scooped out every week and put in the compost pile. The roosting ladder we built gets pulled out and hosed off. I also pick up the poop every day from around the yard (patio and deck) and compost it and hose down the stuff I can't pick up. Actually I do that several times a day. But we have a small backyard and I don't like walking out to poop.
In the winter time when it rains a lot we put straw in the pen for them to walk on. When we change that every week we put it into the veg garden as mulch and haven't had a problem with it being to strong for the veg.

 

[LaSombra]

I use the deep litter method only under the roost. When I scoop up poo from around the coop, I throw it under the roost. Every morning, I sprinkle some Stall Dry where it looks like it needs it and a bit in the pile under the roost. I'm hoping that by winter, it'll make enough heat to keep my flock warm.

The rest of the coop, I have pine shavings, but only a couple inches deep. They don't generally poop around the rest of the coop, though, mostly by the door when they're coming and going or waiting for me in the morning when I oversleep

I haven't scrubbed down the roosts yet. I've scraped off some poo here and there with the shovel but my elder chickens are only about 3 months old so I haven't had them very long...

 

[Equus5O]

Theda's Mom :

I like the idea of the mini-manure scoop. Equus50, which one and where would one go to get one?

I use my nose. Since my flock spends a lot of time free-ranging, I clean on a need-to basis, hence the sniff test. Like today: it's cleaning day.

Are you familiar with the plastic tined manure forks? This is a mini version. Tractor Supply has one for about $20-. I always kept one in the horse trailer.​

 

[frogs n chickens]

I use deep litter method- pine shavings with DE mixed in- and have the area under their roosts walled and wired so the poop falls through onto a sheet of plywood with DE sprinkled on it. I pull out the plywood through a little door on the side of the coop and scrape into the compost heap once a week, andsprinkle a little more DE around the coop with a couple handfulls of pine shavings. It has been 2 months now and I have no issues with flies or smell. I do have good ventilation.

 

[utefan_42]

I am new to chickens, and we opted to go with the deep litter method. We have had our birds in the coop for five months now and haven't cleaned it yet. I add litter to it when i feel it needs it, but it is mostly because of how it looks. I have no smell whatsoever in my coop. And i don't have any fly problems either. Our Utah summers are pretty dry though so i will let you know how it goes through the winter. I will clean it out before the snow starts so that i can till all the poop and pine shavings into my garden so they can break down over the winter. I have actually been suprised by how little chickens smell considering I had all types of people tell me they were the smelliest animals in the world.

 

[trilyn]

We've got 22 chicks the oldest are 16 wks and they've all been in the coop for 8 weeks. We're using the deep litter method and de also, I rake it up and smooth it out everyday. I scrape off the roosts with a metal paint scraper and sprinkle de on it and no smells whatsoever!! I love it, the whole process of feeding, watering, scraping roosts, and stirring up the litter takes me all of 10 minutes. I dump and rinse the water every other day, and clean out the feeders once a week. So much easier than my horses-I love 'em but they're sure time consuming!

The chickens are happy, healthy and most important of all clean and disease free! I can tell you right now, if I had to bleach and scrape and start from scratch everyday, fuggedaboutit!!

NO FLIES-forgot to mention that!!

 

[Novice in New York]

I will scrap off the roost, change out the water every day. The coop and run gets scrapped and raked once per week. No smell no DE.