Keeping a clean coop...

[Suzz]

I'm so lucky to have sandy soil where I live no water ever collects but I pick up poop every day and have shavings in my coop that I pick poop up every day I have a tiny coop but a big run that is easy to get around in to clean can't stand the thought of flies descending on the girls cause there are plenty of those around here

 

[nthomson]

I use an essential oil spray to clean roosts. Takes the poop right up. Please just google which oils are safe for your chickens and then you can decide which "smell' you like the best.

 

[ms match]

Is your fan exhausting the coop air outside or blowing it in from outside?

My coop is built in a large shed, everything outside the actual coop or where there isn't daily activity is covered with thick dust. I take the shop vac out there once or twice a year and suck some of it up. But, yeah, dust is as inevitable as poop. Actually some of that dust is poop.

So, the fan is blowing air into the coop?

 

[aart]

So, the fan is blowing air into the coop?

My fan is, yes...it's mounted on the east side of the coop where it's shadier most the day, so draws cooler air inside to push hotter air out the windows and vents.
I only turn it on late in the day until I lock up after dark.

 

[Judy Todd]

How do you go about It?

Preferred cleaning methods, tools, or non toxic spray solutions?
Are you an herb sprinkler?
If using deep litter over linoleum, what's your favorite deep litter substrate?



So I feel like my coop is icky. The chicks in particular have pooped upon the bookcase turned into nesting boxes, which is grossing me out. There's poo on every roost surface. There's poo on the ramp and other places I can't easily take outside to pressure wash haha.
Before winter I plan to pressure wash the removable roost and coat in coop paint, wish I got to it sooner.
I feel like the nest boxes need a refresh.
I think the air smells dusty.
What do you do to tidy up?

My chickens free range during the day. The coop has a cement floor with pine shavings that I clean out once or twice a year (add to the veg garden). I have a drop board under the roosts which I scrap into a bucket with a hoe every morning. I add that to the veg garden only in the fall where it can mellow out all winter. No smell in the coop. Once a year , I sand the roosts down to fresh wood, am thinking of painting them. I have 20 hens, which is my limit for square footage. But, 5 of them are banties, so can cheat a bit. As I said, they are outside all day. Once in a while I have a fly problem, then I hang one or two of those sticky fly traps. Works great, no sprays, etc.

 

[nancylee679]

How do you go about It?

Preferred cleaning methods, tools, or non toxic spray solutions?
Are you an herb sprinkler?
If using deep litter over linoleum, what's your favorite deep litter substrate?



So I feel like my coop is icky. The chicks in particular have pooped upon the bookcase turned into nesting boxes, which is grossing me out. There's poo on every roost surface. There's poo on the ramp and other places I can't easily take outside to pressure wash haha.
Before winter I plan to pressure wash the removable roost and coat in coop paint, wish I got to it sooner.
I feel like the nest boxes need a refresh.
I think the air smells dusty.
What do you do to tidy up?

 

[Folly's place]

Roosts need to be somewhat rough, and paint will just get chipped off, and probably eaten. At least it won't be on for long!
Mary

 

[HennyPenny2019]

How do you go about It?

Preferred cleaning methods, tools, or non toxic spray solutions?
Are you an herb sprinkler?
If using deep litter over linoleum, what's your favorite deep litter substrate?



So I feel like my coop is icky. The chicks in particular have pooped upon the bookcase turned into nesting boxes, which is grossing me out. There's poo on every roost surface. There's poo on the ramp and other places I can't easily take outside to pressure wash haha.
Before winter I plan to pressure wash the removable roost and coat in coop paint, wish I got to it sooner.
I feel like the nest boxes need a refresh.
I think the air smells dusty.
What do you do to tidy up?

My situation is likely different than most because I only have 4 juvenile girls but here is what I do each morning. I have a 8” metal paint edger (looks like a flat scraper on a handle) there is vinyl floor in coop and on coop “porch”. Each morning I let the girls out into the big run, scrape the poos up and put them around the sunflowers. Then I use Clorox wipes all over the vinyl floor. Takes me about 20 min each morning and I have no smelly coop. I’ve been doing this about a month and am convinced this is perfect for me and my girls.

 

[Folly's place]

If I had four to six birds, rather than 35 to 50, these daily poop scoop methods might make more sense. Want to try it here?
Mary

 

[HennyPenny2019]

Wow!

I have four.

4 for me too ... whole different set of rules and practices for us pet chicken people verses serious chicken farmers.