matt14132
Chirping
Hello everyone,
So a question popped into my head a few days ago.....
How often should straw/bedding be removed from the coop and run?
I have read different things. Some people say every year, some say 2 times a year, some say more like 6 times a year.
The reason I ask is because we had a huge thaw here last week and things got pretty soggy when all the snow melted. I noticed the smell from all the frozen poop and just trying to turn the straw with a pitch fork was a disaster. It all looked really brown just gross. So even all the stuff underneath the initial few inches of straw is soaked and I see this causing a problem in the spring. I know that because I have ducks, there is twice the poop and they tamp down the bedding a lot. I noticed because of that, the straw starts to lock together and is even harder to turn and stir up.
I cant really make a move until things thaw again, or I would prefer at least to wait till spring if I can.
So I guess my question is, should I be concerned with removing this "yucky" straw as soon as I can? or should I just keep piling new straw on top and letting it compost down until next year at this time?
As a side note, I realized that using a METAL pitch fork is much better than using a plastic bedding fork for my particular application here. The plastic bedding fork has a much harder time digging down deeper into the bedding and the plastic tines are easily broken.
Anyways, hoping I will receive a few good responses on what works for you all for cleaning bedding.
Thank you,
Matt
So a question popped into my head a few days ago.....
How often should straw/bedding be removed from the coop and run?
I have read different things. Some people say every year, some say 2 times a year, some say more like 6 times a year.
The reason I ask is because we had a huge thaw here last week and things got pretty soggy when all the snow melted. I noticed the smell from all the frozen poop and just trying to turn the straw with a pitch fork was a disaster. It all looked really brown just gross. So even all the stuff underneath the initial few inches of straw is soaked and I see this causing a problem in the spring. I know that because I have ducks, there is twice the poop and they tamp down the bedding a lot. I noticed because of that, the straw starts to lock together and is even harder to turn and stir up.
I cant really make a move until things thaw again, or I would prefer at least to wait till spring if I can.
So I guess my question is, should I be concerned with removing this "yucky" straw as soon as I can? or should I just keep piling new straw on top and letting it compost down until next year at this time?
As a side note, I realized that using a METAL pitch fork is much better than using a plastic bedding fork for my particular application here. The plastic bedding fork has a much harder time digging down deeper into the bedding and the plastic tines are easily broken.
Anyways, hoping I will receive a few good responses on what works for you all for cleaning bedding.
Thank you,
Matt