How do you explain the "chicken poo" when people come to your door??

[momonpillowhill]

OMG! This is my life!! I have 50+ freerange chickens and 18 free range ducks. When it rains, or when they feel like it, the "ladies' are all over the front porch! The crap is everywhere on the deck! We call out " chicken on the deck" and scoot em off, sit with a water bottle and spray a hose, you name it! We have tried like crazy to get em to stop. I like the sign idea!! Watch your step!! They live here!!
Trish, mom to 7+1, Grammy to 3 going on 4, 50+ chickens, 18 ducks, 5 dogs, 5 cats, 5 horses (and a host of wild critters that get sss'd)

 

[KandJsmama]

We have it all over our pool deck too, we haven't had a barbecue since we got the chickens. We live in the desert where it pretty much never rains so it is quite the adventure to walk barefoot in our backyard and don't even think about sitting in the grass!

 

[kathyinmo]

Oh, I so want one of those signs!

I have no answer for you, but I can sure sympathize with your situation. Yea, I hate all the poo on the patio, and the deck, and the driveway, etc. Actually though, the coop is pretty clean!

 

[missy_cbell21]

so how many chickens can you have in a 1/4 acre yard and not have the poo problem? we get regular rain here but really dry spots during the summer. my hubby just read this thread and is worried about getting poo all over the deck. we want too get between 4-6 hens. thanks!

 

[djackjr]

mine our in a run, my wife is from the city, and if i let them free range and she steps in poo, well let's just say I am not ready to sleep with the chickens

 

[Tala]

Quote:
We currently have 5 chickens ranging on our back yard. Our property is approx 1/3 acre, and the back yard is the majority of it.

We use a gate to keep them mostly off of the deck, and we don't really notice the poop in the grass.

I think if you're willing to fence/gate off the areas you want to keep clean (deck, garden, garage, etc.) then you will be just fine with only 4-6 birds, especially with regular rain.

 

[Cockadoodledon't]

Put up the sign,

Welcome to our Coop,
Beware of the Poop!

 

[chicks4kids]

This is SOOOOOOOOO totally the pic!!

Right??

 

[Katy_didnot]

We're gonna fence off a portion of the back yard away from the deck. I dont want to keep them in their run, it's not really big, but the poop is getting tiresome. We'll give them a big chunk of yard so they can run around and have room, and so that I can watch them from the house (and deck once it's clean enough.). As it is, they like our patio tables and chairs. Which of course means that they're not clean enough for us to use.

 

[Beekissed]

I would build a fence to keep human areas human and chicken areas for chickens. This is what I have done, although my chickens do have access to my back patio. No chickens or dogs in the front yard or on the porch.

In the huge back yard, dogs, chickens, sheep and calf all free range and poop where they will. The chickens scratch up and disperse everyone else's poop and the dogs eat the chicken poop....problem solved!

My backyard has no obvious piles of poop for stepping into except for waaaaaayyyyyyy up in the orchard and even those do not last for long.

I don't really have to explain the chicken poop, if any, as folks can see my pretty free ranging flock from the road and naturally assume they will encounter chicken gifts somewhere!