How do you keep your run perfect?

[chookchick]

So you know what I mean about the rain! bloody awful winter...

If you are a neat freak, you must put a dropping board (tray) under the roost, with sawdust and Stall Dri on it. You can clean that out every day if you like. It makes a huge difference in the amount of poop and smell in the coop.

Chickens and neat freaks seem almost mutually exclusive, as they are walking poop machines, but I have seen some coops that are kept impressively clean. Mine could charitably be called "serviceable". At least the hens don't seem to mind.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm a neat freak too but chickens are chickens... as long as they seem happy and healthy it's good enough for me, I'll save my energy for cleaning the kitchen or something. And chickens do seem to enjoy a run filled with "stuff," whether it's grass clippings and leaves, sod clumps (was clearing out a spot for a raised bed), or dangling branches (my chickens hop up and down stripping young leaves off my willow), versus a sparkling clean, sterile run.

 

[jeria]

I know mine won't look perfect but lived in. I also have hard clay/loess mix soil and it packs like cement, adding sand makes it more like cement. My plan is using straw and other vegetation mixed in when available, leaves in the fall. Straw is available and reasonable, I can also use the bales as a wind break/insulation piled on the north and west side of my coop in the winter to protect it from the crazy cold winds. I've used it piled high in gardens and in horse stalls in the past with no mold issue. Even if it gets wet it dries out with no mold. I love my house clean but often life takes a front seat or working outside, like now and it really needs a good cleaning but the dust can wait--other things to do. I also work a demanding job and just me and the assorted critters so no one to share any chores

 

[RAsChickens]

So you know what I mean about the rain! bloody awful winter...

If you are a neat freak, you must put a dropping board (tray) under the roost, with sawdust and Stall Dri on it. You can clean that out every day if you like. It makes a huge difference in the amount of poop and smell in the coop.

Chickens and neat freaks seem almost mutually exclusive, as they are walking poop machines, but I have seen some coops that are kept impressively clean. Mine could charitably be called "serviceable". At least the hens don't seem to mind.

I already have a droppings board!

 

[aart]

I already have a droppings board!

That'll give you a little 'Tidy Fix' each day, I have a neat freak buddy we call her Tidy Tess, scoop em all out then smooth the sand...just like that fist pic in this thread that started all this. http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/6...raphic-gross-poop-pictures/1100#post_13179595

 

[jjchickmom]

As long as your chickens are happy and critters are not eating them you are doing a great job