how often do you clean out the coop?

[Beekissed]

One thing to note...the deep litter method works best in a well-ventilated coop. Any strong ammonia smells shouldn't be happening if your litter is being managed well, turned often and appropriate dry, fresh materials added when needed. I keep flocks of 30+ birds and rarely ever smell anything in my coop except a rich, earthy composted smell....like the smell of dirt. Even if I hold the litter right up to my nose and take a deep whiff!

When I empty the coop down to the wood floor, it is dry as a bone.

Same here. No moisture in my flooring even after 6 months of litter development.​

 

[Prisserbabe]

So my coop (mine is big enough to hold 12 chickens about) and for mine we just just put newspaper and wood shavings. My chickens spend all day in their run and they dont lay yet so the only time they go in there is to roost at night. so how would this deep litter method work for me? Oh and we are taking out everything and placing linoleum soon. and puting more wood shavings on top of it.

 

[schmism]

i use deep litter... so when it gets good and pooped up i swap.

depending on number of birds in the coupe that could be 6 months, or as often as 2 months.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I clean the poop off the poop board daily and well as any big clumps that have fallen on the floor, sprinkle with DE to help dry thing often and add pine shavings as needed. I change the shavings completely in the spring and the fall, although it does really look like it needs it. (I have a small raised coop) The walls and floor look fine, so I haven't used anything to wash them. The roost are stained. I was told I could sandpaper off the glued on residue, so I plan to do that.

 

[Prisserbabe]

How do I get my chickens to mix up the shaving for me because i have heard you put scratch in there and they scratch around in it but, my chickens only go in there coop when its roosting time .

 

[buffbrahmaboy]

I'm trying a composting deep litter method since it seems best for winter conditions, but I'm having trouble keeping it moist enough. There is no smell. I stir the top layer every week (wear a respirator) and plan on replacing it every spring. The roost has a droppings pit with removable trays that I dump out every couple of months when I also remove and pressure wash the perches and ramps. The walls and ceilings get vacuumed then too.

 

[Nicole01]

Now that I have ordered Oxine, I'm cleaning the roost and walls weekly. Another fabulous product!

 

[Zonoma]

I just switched to sand in the coop, too. I rake it daily into a child's snow shovel and put it in the wheelbarrow for the compost heap. Before it rains, I empty the wheelbarrow. I have no smell, even when I let it go for a week. After I rake out the big stuff, I toss some scratch in there and they take care of the rest.

EDIT TO ADD: My coop (sadly) is not well ventilated enough for deep litter. It's a starter coop, though, and I've learned many things about what I will and won't do with my next one!

 

[gale65]

Quote:
Can you add ventilation? Maybe cut a bunch of holes just below the roofline and cover them with hardware cloth? That's what we were going to do before we decided to build new. Our new coop will have long strips of vent at the top of all 4 walls with hardware cloth over it and the option to cover them if the wind is cold and out of that direction.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I feed in the coop, so I know the birds will be in there at feeding time. At that time I just throw some BOSS in the shavings and the lesser flock members get a start on digging for them while the boss hens eat first at the trough.