How do you clean your coop/run?

[ryanhodapp]

I have a coop,with a partial wood floor. I used pine shavings in there. Attached to coop is an enclosed run that has dirt floor. This is where they prefer to sleep. I have used straw or hay there before. Hate that. Clean up in the spring is a mess. So pine shavings now under the roosts. We also have access to free mulch. So that goes in there too. Spring and fall I shovel it out and turn over what is left.

In addition to that, they have about 250 sq feet of our back yard. So I never really feel,over worked by cleaning. We put mulch in the yard to to help keep the mud controlled during spring and fall.

I also have made a grassy area. I did this by making a raised bed out of 2 x 4, 5 inches off ground and cover with wire mesh. Plant grass seed. They have fresh grass but can't kill it.

I spray roost areas for mites about once a month and use DE on the floor.

 

[furry feet]

This spring i used peat moss not a lot but some i live in Texas so we had a very wet spring now im going to roto till the run as for the hen house pine shaving and peat dried up nice qnd easy to cleanup

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Ah yes. Know of that just...didn't put words to acronyms. As the scarecrow sings..."if I only had a braaaaaiiin"

LOL - I find myself humming that song frequently.....in this case, though acronyms can get confusing especially if you have more than one "circle" in which a particular acronym might be used and you're trying to remember which meaning you need to apply in a situation.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What does dlm mean? (One of these days I'll get all learned I swear!)

Deep litter method. I use a similar method. My coop is a converted shed. I laid hardware cloth over the dirt floor and then spread an entire bale of straw over it. I use a pitchfork to scoop out the top layer of soiled straw underneath the roosts about once a week. Then I spread a new layer of fresh straw over everything.

Just saw this - as junebuggena said, Deep Litter Method though my approach is a little different. In the coop I am DLM with pine shavings (I prefer it over straw). I don't remove any litter on a regular basis, just stir and/or add a layer of litter as needed. Removal is a once or twice a year affair. In the run I have recently started building a deep bed of leaf litter, lawn clippings, shavings, etc. I manage it the same as the coop in that I don't remove, just stir and/or top with a fresh layer. SO simple, odor free and it keeps things amazingly "clean".

 

[prostar]

May try that in the coop itself. Will be leaving the run as dirt though for purposes of dust baths etc.

 

[henless]

May try that in the coop itself. Will be leaving the run as dirt though for purposes of dust baths etc.

If you want to try DL in the run, go ahead. The chickens will dig down and dust bath in the exposed dirt or even in the DL itself. I have a tub for dust bathing, but a lot just get down in the DL and dust away!

 

[WillyJ]

I'm brand new to chicken life. I can close my coop off from the run. They've been in there for a month now. I would like to deep clean the coop. Any suggestions? Soap and water or can I spray it down with bleach and rinse it out?

 

[PapaChaz]

For me I think I had to learn the hard way of what not to do lol. I find personally using straw too messy. In the summer I end up with a hot smelly mess that attracts way too many flies. The floor of my coop is wood. I have tried both shavings and straw in the past. I found both too messy. The straw would end up getting wet really fast and would attract way too many flies. Now I have a bit of sand thrown on the bottom. I take a little kitty litter scoop every morning and scoop out the poop from overnight. The sand dries out the poop very quickly and stops the smell.Then once a week I sprinkle a little DE on the sand to make sure the flies do not come and invade.

The ground of my run was grass when I first build it. Now years later it is mud. I had made the mistake of throwing down straw or leaves in the fall/ winter whenever it got muddy or snow covered. I caution do not do this unless each time you rake the leaves out. For me the leaves never got dry and I would always just end up throwing more down over top. After 2 years I had about 2 feet of muck build up from where the ground was. So every time it rained the chickens and myself had to tromp through it. Gross! It took a very long time to scrape all that out and get back down to a fresh start. It is now a nice sandy dirt. I use a kitty litter scoop and pick up their droppings 2x a day. Then once a week I rake out any debris that is lingering. That way it will never build up to the way it had.

I had recently heard of someone that had two runs. They alternate the runs for their hens every few weeks so there is always nice fresh grass for them. Unfortunately I do not have the ability of a rotating pen, or adding in another one. I do try to let mine free range when possible. However I do not have a fence so I have to be outside to watch them. They like to go over to my neighbours house and ruin their garden. My turkeys free range throughout my backyard as they seem to be able to stay where I want them too.

wow you're working way too hard!

y'all go here and read the thread on the DLM (Deep Litter Method) https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/70/deep-litter-method

there's a video done really well that explains how to do it and how it works. If you're removing what you're putting in there, you're working too hard and you are definitely defeating the purpose of putting it in there. I'm still on the first layer of wood chips in my run since Feb/March and I have no problem with odor or flies at all

I personally prefer straw instead of shavings, it seems to me since I started using it, that it stays cleaner longer and smells better to me than the shavings do. Of course, I have a poop tray under my roosts that is filled with sand and PDZ. I only use the kitty litter scoop twice a week to clean it out and I have no smell, no flies and not nearly as much work. I can't imagine having to do the whole coop twice a day every day.........

 

[PapaChaz]

If you want to try DL in the run, go ahead. The chickens will dig down and dust bath in the exposed dirt or even in the DL itself. I have a tub for dust bathing, but a lot just get down in the DL and dust away!

This!!!

yeah, I went to the trouble to put in a dust bath area and they still dig through the DL and dust in it and the dirt under. Throw some feed out in the run occasionally to give them more of a reason to scratch around, and they'll keep the deep litter turned for you!

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We use the DLM in our run. The girl's dirt bath is a big tub filled with wood ash, peat humus and a little DE. They use it for the most part but still like to dig down to the dirt. We add straw, grass clippings and shavings from the coop from time to time. It stays very clean and odor free. I throw some scratch, sunflower seeds, fruit, veggies or fresh grass in there everyday and they keep it turned.

The run is covered so it stays dry.

Here's a pic I took yesterday, even after the past weekend rains it stayed nice and dry for them.