How often do you clean out the coop?

[joebryant]

Quote:
Valmom, do you have a run? Do your six hens free range, or do they spend all their time in just the large coop. I reqlly don't understand why you're working so hard and so much. Geesh, your chickens have twenty square each. I suggest your at least giving the deep litter method a chance (no hay though). With that much room per chicken and diatomaceous earth, you might not EVER have to clean it.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Valmom, do you have a run? Do your six hens free range, or do they spend all their time in just the large coop. I reqlly don't understand why you're working so hard and so much. Geesh, your chickens have twenty square each. I suggest your at least giving the deep litter method a chance (no hay though). With that much room per chicken and diatomaceous earth, you might not EVER have to clean it.

Absolutely. Throw a little shavings and DE around now and then, stir, and you will smell nothing. That's my approach. I have way over 4 sq ft per bird, but not as much as that. (I never can remember the dimensions!)

 

[sonew123]

woah....I just got done cleaning my 4 x 8 brooder-ahhh what a mess-I had to plane down a bunch of pine boards to get the bedding. raked it all out-disposed of it in the compost pile-put all birds in a make shift pens outside with the 4 girls at my house.. age 11-14...I was up in the garage working when it stormed so bad the girls freaked out collecting all the birds and put them in the same brooder! Not only that but left the door open to the barn they are in! I get back from carrying a whole can full of shavings and all my babies are freaking out-6-12 weeks old-what a mess-I DE'd the brooders and put the bedding down quickly and gathered them all up in their seperate pens-they are good now-huh? 2 are missing? what the heck? So I run to the house thinking the kids brought them inside?? No mom we put them in their kennel...uhh nooooooooooo kennel door was open-get all your hinnies down there now and find the babies! 10 minutes later and sokaing wet-they are safe in their house--kids soaked to the core--relaxing on fruit smoothies and egg salad sandwhiches! I love being a mom! That was fun..

 

[sweetie54]

well i live in the mountains and what i do is rake up my pine needles and leaves too and use that mostly mixed with some straw!!!! They love it because they hunt for bugs in there!!!!! I use straw for the nest tho!!!! and i do this about every month!!! I have 5 chickens and 2 ducks who live in there!!!!! And i have a baby bunny too but she lives in the house with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love her!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

 

[txchickie]

Ehh,,,,,I do not clean the coop

Granted, they are totally free range and only go in on the rare occasion they happen to trot by it. Totally not enough to warrant cleaning that thing out though!

 

[sundance]

I really try to clean mine at least once a month,they free range most of the day but they sure can poop it out at night. we have had so much rain lately I just couldn't get to it as its rained and I mean rained almost every day this month. I have got a piece of tin under the roosts so its fairly easy to pull out the tin and unload the hay and poop in the garden. Now for some sunshine so my tomatoes will grow.

marrie

 

[StupidBird]

My 5 are in a tractor 5x12; it is supposed to be moved every other day (I can't - bad back, dr's orders as that's what got it that way) and the hutch/house part changed out every week. Last time the boys bought a bale of wheat straw instead of the sweet timothy hay (I get it free) and the birds don't like it as much and it smells so much faster. I apply DE at every bedding change. It's been raining all week and the boys are slackers! Look out if I have to hook up my truck and pull that thing across the yard.
It also worked better with a 2-4 inch layer of pine shavings under the hay; I'm going shopping next time.
I've talked to folks who never cleaned their chicken barns, but my grandma would have a fit! Even raising 3 chicken barns full on contract and one for her family, that all got cleaned and limed regular on the farm.

 

[RiverBendPol]

My 3 hens have a 6 or 7' square room, 2 nesting boxes. I have shavings about 4" deep on the floor. Under their perch, I have a plastic tray (the bottom od a dog crate. All the poop lands on the tray and I take it out and pitch it in the compost about every week-10 days. Easy as pie. Their outside run has hay all over the bottom for scratching, I pull all of that out about once a month and replace. They are free range and are only shut up at night or when friends come over with bad dogs.

 

[keljonma]

We have an old horse barn; we partitioned off a part of the barn for our predator-proof, draft-free, well-ventilated hen house. The barn has a dirt floor, but the hen house floor is dirt covered with horse stall mats. The flock has the run of the entire barn, where they are locked up at night.

Our flock consists of 14 hens and 1 rooster. We don’t have a run, they forage our fenced acreage. Their feed is kept in the hen house & barn.

During warm weather (May-ish to Aug/Sept) we have just a couple of inches of wood shavings down for bedding. Starting in September or October, we start adding to the bedding. During winter we use the deep litter method in the hen house. Around the rest of the barn, we put down some chopped straw and surround the inner walls with square straw and hay bales. These help block any drafts in the large barn. In the spring (April-May-ish) we completely remove all the litter down to the mats in the hen house. We scrub and disinfect everything and let it dry thoroughly. Then we put in new wood shavings on the floor and new shavings and straw for the 6 nest boxes. In the barn proper, we rake out the old bedding. We have 3 more nest boxes in some of the horse stalls, and we change them at the same time. Throughout the year we clean out all the nests and replace the chopped straw and shavings in them.

Our daily routine is 5 minutes of scraping droppings from the board under the main roost, picking any out of the dust bathing pool, and any from under the roosts around the barn where hens may have slept at night. Once a month we sweep down the entire barn, which takes some time.

 

[hensplease]

I do it once a week for the smells so the neigbers dont complain