How do we keep our coop cleaner?

[J99]

I have four ducks , and 33 chicks
They aren’t even big chickens yet and my coop stays so gross.
We just cleaned it Sunday and it’s already looking gross with poop every where and bugs
Is there anything we can do to help with that?

 

[Ghosty]

I have four ducks , and 33 chicks
They aren’t even big chickens yet and my coop stays so gross.
We just cleaned it Sunday and it’s already looking gross with poop every where and bugs
Is there anything we can do to help with that?

Encourage them to spend their awake time in a run, or free ranging, whichever works for you. Collect the poop under your roosts with poop boards, or a hammock.

This way, most of their time in the coop is on the roost, and you collect that poop for easier cleaning. There are poop board threads aplenty on BYC. Do a search for "poop boards".

 

[21hens-incharge]

How big is the coop?

It takes my 22 chickens a month to make their coop gross.

 

[PirateGirl]

Get rid of the ducks

Ok, I second the question, how big is the coop?
Also, what kind of bedding do you use?
Do you have poop boards or anything under your roosts?

 

[PirateGirl]

I also only clean the chicken coop like once a month (or longer) and the ducks is about once every 2-3 weeks (more when it rains lots, less when the weather is dry).

 

[MomJones]

I have between 21 and 26 chickens (lost count) who all sleep in a small coop at night. I use a leaf rake each day to move the pine shavings around in order to dry things out. It keeps the smell down. Then once a month I rake all the shavings out and refill the nesting boxes, etc. It's an ongoing challenge for sure.

 

[J99]

I’m not sure how big my coop is but my “ run” is just a fenced part of what I’m calling my coop it has an inside and outside in one structure
I use pine bedding in the inside part nothing but dirt on the outside part .
I have some roosts they get on in the outside part but they are still chicks and don’t get on most the higher roosts yet. The ducks and chicks live together. I have no “ poop boards”
it doesn’t stink but the duck poop and chkn poop is all over the place.
Can we use liter all over the floor and scoop the poop like with cats?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Please grab a tape measure and get a measurement.

The outdoor area looks very very small for 33 chickens and 4 ducks.
That would force many to be inside a lot during the day.....contributing to the poop inside.

My birds have the minimum recommended space of 4square foot in the coop (sleeping and laying structure) and extra space outside at almost 17 square foot per bird in the run.

In spring, summer and fall my birds are rarely in the house during the day. In winter they spend a LOT more time inside.
Something to consider.

 

[Verbon30]

Sounds like you need a bigger coop or fewer chickens. I hear ducks are a bit nasty but I never had any. What kind of chicken do you have? Standard or bantum?

 

[J99]

I have standard chickens but right now they are all little chicks . We are going to build a bigger run later , however it’s not as small as it looks however I have nowhere near 17 square foot per chicken. My coop doesn’t smell at all I just want something that’ll absorb the poop better so it seems cleaner.