how often do you clean out the coop?

[allieloveschickens]

I rake the run once a week, and change the litter in the coop every two weeks- or as needed. I also hose off their ramp to the coop once a month if it needs it. So far I have not had to clean the walls, the girls haven't pooped on them. My coop has been up and in use for a little over a year now.

 

[Beekissed]

I always use the deep litter method and clean out twice a year. No bleaching, hosing or scrubbing. Just a scoop out and put down of new layer of pine bedding. I like to keep the healthy bacteria that may be growing in my coop, so no disinfecting for me.

 

[2DogsCoop]

We try to clean ours out every week. Our coop is 8x8 and we use one bail of wood chips per/week. Remove all the old stuff and put it in our compost bin. We also hang new vanilla air fresheners every week, it seems to help with the flies.

 

[booker81]

Deep Litter Method - once a year I strip all the bedding out, put it on the garden (did this on a warm weekend in March), and the put a few bags of shaving down. Every couple months I put another bag of shavings in. I too toss scratch or BOSS in and let them stir things up for me.

Coop is 10x10 with 12 chickens in it now. No stink or flies. Easy on me, and in the winter it's old enough to be a source of gentle heat for them due to composting.

 

[Gypsi]

I have the run roost system, unless the ladies decide it is too cold to roost in the run, which seems to occur when night time temps hit 20, strange how good that sounds right now. So I hardly ever clean the coop. What is on the floor in there is a little straw but primarily Layena that they have scraped off the bucket lid the feeder sits on, rarely any droppings. They eat in the coop, lay in the nest boxes, and go outside. The floor of my coop was painted with kilz 2, then I covered it with removable 45 mil epdm pond liner. When it does get dirty I open the hinged door, pull the whole piece out, shake it over the compost pile, and rinse it with a hose. If it ever looks like it needs bleached I would clean it with dilute bleach water.

They removed all green things from the run last year, so I put in nice clean play sand a couple of inches deep last summer. And when it starts to smell, and looks like mud but I know it isn't, (every couple of months), I go out with my square shovel, scrape off the top 2 inches, pile it for compost, and pour in 5 or 6 fresh bags of playsand. I don't bother to put sand under the perches usually, Just take the shovel and remove as much as I can, they don't really walk around under there. If I scoop it too low I add some sand, so water won't pool there.

I could rake the run sand every day, in an ideal life with more time. And the hens are loose in the yard for 2 to 6 hours a day most days.

 

[top of the hill]

wow! thanks for all the feedback!

It seems like the majority of you clean out the coop every 2 weeks. I am interested in this poop board, think I'll have the hubby install one this weekend. We already have the deep litter method in place, and figured I'd do a thorough scrub down in the fall and again in the spring. I find myself raking the run every couple of days just to keep things tidy, plus I can't stand to see them scratching for seeds in a poop infested run!

What is this DE everyone keeps mentioning?
-S

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
I use the sub-ground level dirt floor deep litter composting pit method------I only clean it out once a year to put on my Garden. No need to disinfect, keep the compost going. (been doing this for a couple decades now, it's a European method that has been in use for centuries)

 

[Prisserbabe]

so let me get this straight; the deep litter method is where you just but wood shaving on the floor of your coop and throw scratch in there and the girls scratch it around which mixes it up and as it start to get gross and smelly in there you add about 1 in of more wood shaving and once a year you take everything out and put it in your composte or plants etc. correct or am i missing something?

haha thank you

 

[SC_Hugh]

Quote:
x2 for me, seems that the deep litter method really works with only occasional stirring or throwing some scratch around to let the chickens mix it up.

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

--Hugh

 

[SC_Hugh]

Quote:
Not exactly, it really depends on how big the coop is and how many chickens and how much time they spend in there vs. outside in the yard or run.

When I begin to smell the ammonia urine odor (ammonia is really bad for chicken's respiratory system), I stir the litter up really good, but I also know that I need to buy some shavings and clean it out soon.

My schedule for my 5 hens and 28 sq. foot coop is 2x year in April and then in October. Nest boxes get emptied onto the coop floor and refilled about every other month or so.

Once I empty the coop, I compost the poop and shavings with household scraps for 6 months before putting it on my plants.

--Hugh