Inexpensive coop litter options

[Nyhillbillies]

Yeah, I have a ladder to get up to the 2 foot high roost. Maybe I'll put that back up for her. But the main roosting bar is 4 foot high and all the chickens are up there for the night.

Do you have room to put one up to the 4-footer? It breaks my heart to see our smallest all by herself. She hangs out with our rooster mostly. He watches out for her.

 

[gtaus]

I really want to streamline the whole weekly cleaning situation. We are thinking of adding a tarp piece under the perches and putting the wood shavings on top. That way I would just pull out the tarp, fold, shake outside in the ‘dirt/shavings’ pile, and slide it back into place, adding more shavings.

Does anyone think a tarp used like that would create issues?

I like the concept. Assuming the tarp is heavy enough not to break with the weight of the chicken poo and litter when you move it. If you have enough shavings on top of the tarp, it might be all you need to protect the tarp from the chickens.

I have seen some pickup tarps on rollers for removing a load much the same concept as what you mentioned. If they can make a tarp strong enough to handle a load of cut wood, then I think some pine shavings and chicken poo would not be a big deal.

 

[gtaus]

Do you have room to put one up to the 4-footer? It breaks my heart to see our smallest all by herself. She hangs out with our rooster mostly. He watches out for her.

I'll have to look into making some type of ladder to get up that high. I would rather see her roosting with the other hens at night, too. Thanks.

 

[gtaus]

I really want to streamline the whole weekly cleaning situation.

When I first got chickens, many, many years ago, I cleaned out the liter all the time. Then, I did not have chickens for a number of years. This time, when I got chickens again, I am using the deep bedding system of coop litter and only clean out the coop twice a year. Much less effort, and much better results than my previous setup.

 

[DickMidnight]

I really want to streamline the whole weekly cleaning situation.

deep bedding and no poop boards takes care of that.

i clean the coop out once or twice a year.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

I'll have to look into making some type of ladder to get up that high. I would rather see her roosting with the other hens at night, too. Thanks.

Thanks to God, the chicken Maker, not me!

 

[Nyhillbillies]

This is our coop for 5 hens and a rooster. The active popdoor goes to a fenced pasture.

 

[Nyhillbillies]

I live on a lake, and I used sand when I first got poultry. Sand works OK, as long as you constantly clean and refresh it. I prefer dry deep bedding, but sand can work if you put in more effort in keeping it clean.



I suspect that when the temps get below freezing, you will find that the chicken poo mixed with sand will be as hard as concrete and you might not be able to scoop it out with your chicken coop kitty litter shovel device. Where I live, our winters are long. The chicken poo freezes solid and starts to pile up in the winter. In my case, I toss on another layer of fresh paper shreds about twice a month throughout the winter. It keeps everything looking fresh in the coop. Frozen poo does not seem to smell, at least when it's covered up with a fresh layer of litter.

By the end of the winter, come spring time, I have almost 12 inches of litter in the coop floor to clean out. But that works for me because my coop my designed to hold up to 12 inches of deep bedding litter.



I always advocate using free resources for litter. Those big box stores make enough money on me buying feed bags. I don't want to give them more money for litter.

What about sand fleas?!?

 

[saysfaa]

My next coop will will have 1" hardware cloth on the floor so poop falls thru the mesh .

You might mock up a section to see if the poop will go through that consistently. I've seen posts here from people who tried it and said enough lands on the wires or where they cross that it builds up.

 

[DickMidnight]

This is our coop for 5 hens and a rooster. The active popdoor goes to a fenced pasture.

they only have that little box inside of that whole shed?

do you use the rest of it for storage? any way you can compress your storage down and divide the shed in half for a larger coop area?