Keeping a clean coop...

[jreardon1918]

I too am part of the just get rid of the big poops. The poop boards get scooped 1-2 tines a week. In 2 1/2 years i have changed all pine shavings in coop 3 times. The shavings wenti into the run to mix in. The pine shavings in nests getthe say semi annual cleaning. But i do watch for the occasional poop in there. The removable poop boards get an occasional spraying with the hose. The inside design prevents poops from getting on most surfaces.

I think the ventilation and poop boards keep the coop "fresh".

 

[Mvan42]

We clean our floor pine shavings out ever so often just because we have rabbits living with the chickens. I agree if we only had chickens cleaning the poop board under the roost which had sand in it and getting rid of the big poops is all we would do. But with rabbits we have to clean it a little more often.

 

[noregerts]

What @chookchick said.
Plus I'm always happy for a hard rain because it washes away the poop in the run.

 

[Toothpick]

Chickens were a bad choice if poo bothers you that much

I clean out the poop boards anywhere from every day to 1 week. I don’t like to let them go longer than a week otherwise it’s terrible. I use pine shavings for the bedding and I change that once a year. That’s about the only cleaning I do. If there is poo on top of the nest boxes I might brush it off in the floor. Or I might leave it.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

I'm feeling a bit less dirty now!

Granted, before the chicks were added in, most poo was concentrated under the ladder roost. I'd toss a few hand scoops of shavings over it once a week and good as done.
The chicks really wrecked it all up lol!

I've succeeded in having a fairly smell free coop. The dust in air really gets me though.
I'm surprised there's "dusty air" as the window is open, fan running, and we built a nice predator proof screen door to close if we must close the door at all.

 

[aart]

The dust in air really gets me though.
I'm surprised there's "dusty air" as the window is open, fan running, and we built a nice predator proof screen door to close if we must close the door at all.

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.

 

[Folly's place]

My coop would likely melt if I tried to wash it out! We use baled pine shavings, and some hay or straw in the nest boxes, and shovel it out two or three times each year. If there's a pile of poo in a corner (like now) I'll get around to shoveling it out soon.
The nest boxes get new shavings or bedding as needed, with the old dumped on the coop floor.
Hindsight is great! We should have painted the interior before the chickens move in 25 or so years ago, and it's too late now. It's that 'old coop gray' everywhere on the inside.
The floor is old concrete, with cracks, covered mostly with rubber stall mats. It's easier to shovel out that way, and has worked to keep dampness out too.
Mary

 

[trumpeting_angel]

I think for those of us who aren’t farmers, the amount of poop comes as a shock. And as the chicks grow, they poop more and more!

I find that poop board scraping daily, plus a little triage in front of the pop door where they spend a fair amount of time, makes everything smell okay. Not great, but never a big problem.

My DH is poop-averse, so he is put off by the coop and run. He is even a little unhappy when they poop in the yard! So I take care of it. But there’s no smell he complains of.

 

[Folly's place]

I have anywhere from 35 to 50 chickens at any time, and daily poo scooping isn't going to happen here! No sand in the run or coop, no poop boards, nothing that takes that kind of daily effort. Lazy! And with deep and dry bedding, it's still okay.
Mary

 

[trumpeting_angel]

I have anywhere from 35 to 50 chickens at any time, and daily poo scooping isn't going to happen here! No sand in the run or coop, no poop boards, nothing that takes that kind of daily effort. Lazy! And with deep and dry bedding, it's still okay.
Mary

Wow!

I have four.