The tiny henhouse where my 3 hens roost is about 3'x3'x3' inside. Right now I have pine shavings on the floor about 4 inches thick and poop boards under the roosts. I have been scraping the poop boards every day. However, as I said in my last post, I'm planning on going on vacation and my son and roommates will care for the hens. How often is it REALLY necessary to scrape the poop boards? I do it every day because they really poop a lot at night and I want them to have a clean place to sleep. But is that necessary? Is there a better way of handling the floor in a tiny roosting area? I'm open to ideas. Below is a photo of the inside of the henhouse. The nesting boxes are no longer inside - there are pine shavings and poop boards on the floor. But as you can see, it is small, so it gets stinky pretty quickly. Thoughts? Advice? Help?
That small, it should probably be cleaned everyday. That small, you could use granulated zeolite (brand name is Sweet PDZ it's marketed for horse stalls) on the floor the use a sifter to clean up the poops every day. The PDZ will help control the odor very well and is easy to sift the poops out of instead of the shavings.
Oh yeah....you're just really limited in a housing that tiny. Your pet sitter MIGHT be able to go two days...but that poo will build up quickly....and that means more moisture and stink building up that the birds have to tolerate.... Just assure your sitter that it doesn't take but 30 seconds to clear the poo each day....
Yeah, using the poop boards makes it easy to just pull them out and dump them in a bucket I keep nearby. I have an old pancake turner I use to scrap the poop boards when I need to but unless they've free ranged a lot the day before, the poop just falls off. We finished the coop today. I'll put up photos in a minute. I think they've got plenty of room now and the concrete (hopefully) will keep out the critters.
I guess I will buck the trend and say clean when you get back. No worries as long as the boys feed, water and care for the flock. The coop looks like it is weather tight and has good venting with big gable vents. The poop will dry up and therefore not become smelly.
