Keeping the coop clean??!!!

[Mayzu]

I have two hens and a duck, living in a coop around 5 by 2 metres with no concrete, just dirt underneath. I am not allowed to let them walk around free for a whole day so I only let them out for around a half our each morning and sometimes later in the day. Anyway, it is ALWAYS raining at the moment in Australia and every time it does it gets all muddy (of courrse, they have a shelter to keep dry). Anyway, i have not got any straw at the moment and when i did it was the perfect solution. How would i keep it clean without straw? I have put a kind of cover on the ground so that they'd be walking on it rather than dirt. I have also put some rotten pumpkin patch remains down. Any other ideas?

 

[greenpeeps]

Sand. I dug out my run and put about 6" of sand down. It keeps the mud away, and the chicken poop seems to dissapear into the sand. I lightly rack my run about twice a week. I guess for the inside of the coop you would have to do it more often. But I found it was well worth the cost and time.

 

[2DogsFarm]

I'm just a novice at this - I've had my mini-flock for just 2 months.
Can you put down some sort of flooring over the dirt?
Maybe some gravel on top of the dirt for drainage & then some material over the gravel?

You said you don't let your birds out - do you mean out of the coop or out of the run?
If your coop isn't too large you could put a sheet of plywood over the gravel base and cover that with linoleum tile, the stick-on ones or sheet linoleum if you're handy.

My coop is a converted garden shed (former owners kept chickens & turkeys in it) Half the floor is rectangular cinderblock pavers over dirt - easy to sweep clean. The other half is plywood and this part is sectioned off and where I keep nestboxes, food and waterer on top of pine shavings.

I put down about 2cu feet of shavings (for an area about 4'X10') two months ago and just cleaned it last week. The shavings were still mostly dry & could have been reused but I chose to put down fresh. I sprinkle Sevin dust on the plywood underneath the shavings & so far no sign of mites and the coop is pretty free of flies.

Hope this helped

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure if you are talking about a coop (closed in area with a roof, usually with roosts and nest boxes) or a run (outside fenced area so they can get some sun and air) or maybe something in between. From the size and your comments, I'm thinking it may be closer to a run. In either case, this link may help. And I agree with Greenpeeps. Sand works great.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run