How often do you clean your poop boards?

[Matilda Belle]

I have kids and work almost full time. I have a smaller coop (56 sq. feet) and clean weekly. I don't think i could handle a much larger coop than what I have and keep up with the maintenance. I empty the poop boards every week, check the coop for droppings and remove them, then add fresh bedding. I also scoop out the run of bedding every few months or so when it starts to smell and replace it with fresh bedding.

In the winter it's a different story. It can get to 20-30 below zero where I am and it's no fun going outside. I don't heat my coop, so all the droppings freeze. I just add fresh bedding every week and don't remove anything until the spring. Just make sure you have good ventilation. That was a big problem for me last year and I had to add some vents.

 

[Compost King]

I have kids and work almost full time. I have a smaller coop (56 sq. feet) and clean weekly. I don't think i could handle a much larger coop than what I have and keep up with the maintenance. I empty the poop boards every week, check the coop for droppings and remove them, then add fresh bedding. I also scoop out the run of bedding every few months or so when it starts to smell and replace it with fresh bedding.

In the winter it's a different story. It can get to 20-30 below zero where I am and it's no fun going outside. I don't heat my coop, so all the droppings freeze. I just add fresh bedding every week and don't remove anything until the spring. Just make sure you have good ventilation. That was a big problem for me last year and I had to add some vents.

I have never experienced that much cold, coldest I have seen was slightly below zero and it hurt to get out of bed. I imagine being that cold you have much less problems with pests. If I had that climate I would have Buckeye's and that Canadian breed instead of Dorking's and Naked Neck's.

 

[Matilda Belle]

I have never experienced that much cold, coldest I have seen was slightly below zero and it hurt to get out of bed. I imagine being that cold you have much less problems with pests. If I had that climate I would have Buckeye's and that Canadian breed instead of Dorking's and Naked Neck's.

Winters in Minnesota can be brutal. It's not always that cold, but last winter it was -20 to -30 for about a week. It felt like spring when the thermometer hit 0 degrees. lol I have silkies and was certain I'd lose at least one, but I didn't. Last year was my first winter with chickens and I didn't have any sort of pest problem. (Knock on wood)

 

[K0k0shka]

@silkiekeeper Thanks for chiming in! I love hearing from other once-a-weekers Good point about winter making upkeep even more minimal. I'm planning on leaving lots of open vents for ventilation. We used to have brutal winters in Boston, but not anymore, the weather is just warming up too quickly. Right now for the bulk of the winter it barely stays below freezing, with the occasional snow storm or polar vortex thing that will temporarily plunge the temperatures down to the 20s or teens, very rarely single digits, and anything below 0 would be a record. I'll only be getting Orpingtons, and they should be okay with the cold.

 

[K0k0shka]

Alright, question for the less frequent scoopers - with this system, is a poop board necessary? If the idea is to dry the poop out as much as possible, wouldn't it be better to have it drop into the thick bedding of pine shavings on the floor, instead of accumulating in the shallow poop tray? I'm planning on leaving a floor-level "poop flap" on the wall in the roost area, so I can periodically open it and just push the poop clumps out with a push broom, and add new shavings. On the other side of the poop flap, just outside of the coop, is the compost pile, so I just push the poop out and it falls right in the compost

 

[Ghosty]

I clean mine every couple weeks, but honestly I want sand and pdz filled poop boards so I can use a scoop and clean more often. Mine is just flat right now with chips on top. The littles like to roost on the poop board, kick the chips off, and it gets too gross for me. A poop hammock made from a tarp or something similar clipped to the walls and roost might be a better way to go if you don't want to clean often. Just pull your hammock out once in a while and scrape and hose it off. I don't care for the poop in summer though, too stinky for me. I can't wait to redo mine.