How often should I shovel out the coop?

[magikchick]

Gee I must be a clean freak. I shovel out the poop and spread new shavings every 2 weeks.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm trying the deep litter method this winter, so I won't be removing bedding until spring. In the summer, I don't use bedding. My coop is really, really old...like built in the 1930s! The floor has huge cracks and gaps between the boards, so their is plenty of air from these and the three large windows. The droppings are dry as toast within a day and I just rake them out about twice in the summer. My birds free range, so the only time really spent in the coop is at night.

 

[greenmulberry]

I have 7 hens in a 5by8 coop.

I clean the bedding twice a year, once late fall, and once early spring.

My girls always have access to their run, but, they do stay inside more often in the winter. That early spring change of bedding stays nice and fresh all summer.

I tried the deep bedding method last winter, but, it froze solid and the poo just piles on top. Once the weather got reasonable and it thawed, then everything mixed in again. I think having a raised wooden floor somewhere that gets as cold as here, and it was bound to happen?

 

[dirtfishing1]

Hello,
I have been using the deep method this year, I cleaned it out in the early summer and put down one bag of pine shavings and every few weeks I add about half a bag. I also use red cedar shavings in the nesting boxes and change it out on a bi weekly basis. The old gets put on the floor under the roosts. I toss a hand full of corn around every so often and let the birds stir it up nice. I also police the wet spot near the door after it rains to keep it dry. I would say I have 2 bags of cedar and 4 bags of pine in there now. I had flies in the early summer but after August the flies were gone. It is now about 8 inches deep and it stays warmer at night as well. I will shovel it into the garden in March and do a clean up inside with a bleach\\water solution then.

Dirt

 

[cmom]

One of my coops have the roosts over a wire covered pit. Works great. The other coop is going to be remodeled shortly and when I modify the roosts, I am putting poop catching pans under the roosts with some pine shavings in them to catch the poop. I clean the coop with the poop pit once a year. The other coop without the poop pit currently, I clean it out every couple of months. There are pictures on my BYC Page.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm wondering why a person couldn't construct a poop shute under their roosts? You know, a piece of galvanized tin roofing, slanted towards one wall with an appropriate sized door to the outside. Just open the door, insert a squeegee type apparatus and slide poo out the opening and into a conveniently placed garden cart or bucket/tub, shut door. Poop disposed of with a minimal effort!

When I was a teenager, I visited with one of my friends on her small dairy farm. When the cattle were in the stanchions, eating and being milked, she was pushing all the feces towards a long, narrow trough in the concrete floor. Then she just took the same "pusher" , for want of a better word, and just pushed the muck out of the barn towards a ledge that dropped the poo straight into a wagon! The pusher was just a rectangular metal end with a long wood handle. The rectangle fitted perfectly into the trough....like it was designed especially for this task..probably was!