How often should I be cleaning coop and poop questions!

[5chicksinmesa]

HI- we are pretty new to the chicken raising and I have questions on how often I should be cleaning the coop and dirt around it-
I had intended on letting the chickens run loose most of the time- but after our Lab got a hold of one- we decided that was not a good idea.
Now we keep them in the coop most of the time. I try to let them out to run in the grass 2-4 hours each day while my dog is indoors.

I also wonder about the appearance of the poop- I have found some diarrhea poop in the coop and was concerned about that.

I want to make sure they are healthy- what do you do to make sure they are? I have 5 chickens and we have had 1-2 eggs each day now for a couple of weeks.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I keep ours in the run for now...we just put them outdoors a few weeks ago...but plan on free ranging soon. I too notice loose stools from them and I think that's pretty normal. Especially I notice it more when I feed them more people food...grapes, watermelon etc. I wouldn't worry much about that unless they stop eating or seem depressed. About the cleaning of the coop...you will find many who go many different ways. Some do the deep litter method, some clean if every week, some once a month. The deep litter method is usually once a year or twice a year. But keep adding clean litter every few weeks and stir it up. The chickens will do this for you if you throw in some cracked corn on the floor

...until the litter reaches 12 inches. Then clean it out and add it to the compost

Hope that helps.

 

[JennsPeeps]

2 kinds of poop:

1. Firm, dark and round with a bit of white on it (urea)
2. "Cecal" (google it) poop - runny, nasty, gag you, singe your nosehairs kind of poo

Both are normal. Unfortunately, when a chicken is on your lap, you never know which one will arrive next.