Keeping a clean coop...

[aart]

I love that second picture, very clean and classy looking.

Wonders if that's a 'just built' shot?

 

[Cryss]

Wonders if that's a 'just built' shot?

I kinda thought that but it didn't matter cuz I just like the photo. Composition, colors, angle, placement.

 

[cmom]

It was a fairly new shot at the time. I should go out and take a now picture. The only thing that has changed is that hubby wanted to put the small perches in front of the nest boxes but the birds would roost on them and poop in the nest boxes so I cut them off.

 

[HennyPenny2019]

I have enjoyed reading this thread. I am also an owner of fairly large flocks of birds. I do a thorough spring and fall cleanings where I take my pressure washer into the coops and pressure wash the inside of the coops. I have wire under my roosts so I am able to rake out the poop pits from outside the coop. I realize climate and the size of the flocks dictates many of the different setups. I do have some floors in some of the coops that I put pine shavings on.
View attachment 1867672 View attachment 1867677

Nice setup!

 

[HennyPenny2019]

My 4 girls aren’t roosting. I have 3 different roosts, one in coop and 2 in their enclosed yard. Is this something I need to teach them? At night they all sit together in/on nest boxes.

 

[oldhen2345]

LOL. I have a linoleum floor covered with pine shavings. When I clean, I scrape out the dirty pine shavings and wash down the floor, scrape the roosts. Put down Stalldry(PDZ?) and cover with clean shavings. Decorate everything with DE and add dried herbs ( the hens love it). Once a year I clear everything out an spray down with Oxine. The coop sits above a sand run and I sift out the poop and feathers and old food. Then I put a layer of new sand down. They free range in the yard and I have a dust bath for them. I put fresh sand, peat, and dirt in there when it needs it. As for fresh water, I use a fountain waterer. I tried the nipple. but they kept leaking and I would end up filling the stupid thing all the time. I ran a water line to the chicken yard and have a faucet there handy, so I can clean the waterer and add fresh water right there.

 

[Cryss]

My 4 girls aren’t roosting. I have 3 different roosts, one in coop and 2 in their enclosed yard. Is this something I need to teach them? At night they all sit together in/on nest boxes.

Some people do try putting them onto the roost after they have gone to bed so they will wake up in the morning on the roost. Others leave them alone letting instinct motivate them. However they should never be allowed to sleep in nests. If they aren't laying eggs yet the nests should be blocked off. They will develop a bad habit of pooping in the nest and you will eventually have poop covered eggs. Also use a deeply slanted roof over the nests so they can't roost there and poop down onto nesting area.

 

[Kat2141]

Pine shavings work well in summer, but I'm not a fan of how it solidifies in winter rather than staying workable.

I'm in the cold part of the country, too, and last winter I went with the deep litter method. My girls are in a 10x10 stall, with a wood floor, that used to be for a horse. I don't have nearly as many as you have (have 9) but one thing that helped me was to use a cheap plastic snow shovel to scoop under the shavings and stir them up a bit. It only took a couple minutes to do the whole stall and it helped immensely. The shavings didn't get "solid" and it really helped the smell. I stripped the stall in the spring but will do the deep litter again soon for the winter. It definitely made it warmer on the floor for them.

That shovel is dedicated to the chicken's stall because it is so handy... I put a thin layer of shavings on the poop boards and they scoop off real easy with that, little to nothing sticks. I have a handheld garden hoe type thing the I scrape the roost boards with before I do the poop boards. So cleaning is pretty simple...

 

[Kat2141]

Add poop boards and you can change out floor shavings just once or twice a year.

totally agree with you aart! a thin layer of shavings on them and clean as needed

 

[jreardon1918]

If it doesn't need it, no reason to feel guilty.
How many birds?

I don't think i ever answered this. 6 hens.
Will be getting a few chicks in the spring. There will also be some subtraction at the same time. I think the coop will be full if we'r go past 8 birds.