Must have supplies for clean coop

[shaw613]

I have a lot of hens in a fairly small house. I've got 4 x 4 lumber under the roost, with plastic boot trays lined up and off the floor. About every 2 weeks I dump the droppings in the boot trays i my manure spreader and change the bedding. 4x4s keep the hens from scratching the bedding to the trays. Hard to exp!ain, but very happy with it. Takes less than an hour to clean and put in New bedding.

 

[Lynn26]

Oh yeah that looks great! I like that idea, but the only thing I could think of is buying mulch, would that be the same?

I use saw dust from a local saw mill in my run. It’s all hardwood. My birds love it and the run looks good.

 

[adwil21]

what kind of san

We 'clean' our coops and runs every single morning, 365. This means scooping out the poop and washing off the poop tray etc. They always look clean and NEVER smell. We do the huge 'spring clean' in May. We take everything out, and take the old sand out of the run. We use 2 fantastic products that we can't do without. First we hook KENNEL WASH up to the hose and clean everything. You then rinse with just water from the hose. Next you spray everything with HEALTHY PEN (do NOT rinse off---safe for all). We replace the sand with new fresh sand and we mix in DE and wood ash from our woodstove periodically We have never had any pest/health issues with our flock. We have a coop and run for 2 ducks and a goose and one for 8 hens. Here is a photo of our chicken coop taken a few days ago after the 'spring clean'. (LOL, I made the spring 'seed pack bunting'!)

KENNEL WASH:
https://www.revivalanimal.com/product/kennel-wash-all-purpose-cleaner/all-dog-and-cat-supplies

HEALTHY PEN: (make sure you get these items for hose attachment---we also then get the big refill sizes and have them on the chicken shelf).
http://www.carefreeenzymes.com/products/agriculture/poultry-products/healthy-pen/

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PS It's a lot easier to keep a really clean coop if you do the 15 min. each day. We do the big clean with the products above in spring and fall.

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Nest boxes---We use the turf pads and some dried herbs!

d did you use and where do you get it?

 

[Cturber]

My must have list is putty knife (poop scraper), CHOLREHEXIDINE, and dry bedding.
Chlorhexidine for cleaning and scrubbing poop boards and roosts as needed.

 

[Jenthehen127]

My run is uncovered (well, netting, no roof). I use deep litter. Basically it manages itself at this point and composts down the poop (though I do scoop up big surface poops just so we don't step on them). Good drainage, which is key for me, and absorbs bad odors.

My coop has deep bedding with wood chips. Stays bone dry, and the used chips just end up as part of the run after clean outs. My clean out takes me like 10 minutes to empty it out, and another 20 to load chips back in. Not bad for twice a year!

Did you have mites? Pretreating for mites doesn't work as it doesn't kill eggs, you need to treat active infestations. Elector PSP supposedly works very well though, if you do have an infestation.

@rosemarythyme do you use deep litter in the uncovered run? Is it wood chips too?

 

[Jenthehen127]

I know some people say DE is useless, but I'm one who swears by it. I've never had a mite issue, touch wood, and I've had chickens for years. I dust about once weekly around perches, corners and nest boxes and include it in my hens dust bath with some wood ash. I keep a clean coop and wipe down areas routinelywith a cleaning vinegar solution, and only use the deep litter method in the winter, so that might contribute, but DE is something I wouldn't skip.

Wipe down? What surfaces do you wipe? Humm....I use some DE in my girls bath, and had thought about using so.e in the coop too. Do you use essentials oil in your vinegar solution?

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Wipe down? What surfaces do you wipe? Humm....I use some DE in my girls bath, and had thought about using so.e in the coop too. Do you use essentials oil in your vinegar solution?

Yep! I mix essential oils in the diluted vinegar to keep the vinegar smell down, even though I mix lemon juice in, the vinegar smell is always kinda strong. For the most part the only wiping I have to do is on roosts, I actually have my roosts and walls covered in flex seal spray so everything wipes down super easy. It was a bit of an experiment, my first perches were unfinished wood but they were harder to clean, and I didn't particularly want to use paint because it chips and we all know chickens will eat anything, and I had half a can of that miracle stuff and it works wonders. The DE I puff into corners and cracks and on the edge of the roosts and nest boxes.

I don't have anything against chemicals or pesticides, and if I had an infestation I wouldn't hesitate to go for the heavy stuff, but (touch wood) it hasn't happened yet, and I'm not messing with my method if it ain't broke! And the vinegar cleaner is the same stuff I use for a basic clean around the house, I'm not interested in a sterile coop, I just do it the way granny did!

 

[Jenthehen127]

Yep! I mix essential oils in the diluted vinegar to keep the vinegar smell down, even though I mix lemon juice in, the vinegar smell is always kinda strong. For the most part the only wiping I have to do is on roosts, I actually have my roosts and walls covered in flex seal spray so everything wipes down super easy. It was a bit of an experiment, my first perches were unfinished wood but they were harder to clean, and I didn't particularly want to use paint because it chips and we all know chickens will eat anything, and I had half a can of that miracle stuff and it works wonders. The DE I puff into corners and cracks and on the edge of the roosts and nest boxes.

I don't have anything against chemicals or pesticides, and if I had an infestation I wouldn't hesitate to go for the heavy stuff, but (touch wood) it hasn't happened yet, and I'm not messing with my method if it ain't broke! And the vinegar cleaner is the same stuff I use for a basic clean around the house, I'm not interested in a sterile coop, I just do it the way granny did!

Great! Thanks for the info! I like the smell of the oils better than some cleats, especially for the hens! I'm still brand new York this, so all good things to know!

 

[rosemarythyme]

@rosemarythyme do you use deep litter in the uncovered run? Is it wood chips too?

Yes I do deep litter in the run, and the wood chips from the coop go into the run's litter to supplement the materials there. When I first started I had to build up layers of chips in the run (we had a massive mud and odor issue) but once it was resolved I really didn't need to add chips all that often, so the chips from the coop are plenty to keep the deep litter working in run.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Great! Thanks for the info! I like the smell of the oils better than some cleats, especially for the hens! I'm still brand new York this, so all good things to know!

Anytime! If you have the space around your coop and run it never hurts to grow some perennial herbs. Mint will grow just about anywhere, but can be pretty invasive in some areas, so its something to watch out for, but in my particular set up it works perfectly and on the warmer days it's much more noticeable than the run. If you like the fresh straw smell but don't want the soggy awful mess that straw creates, I occasionally use Straw Boss, a shredded straw stall bedding sold at most TSCs and some feed stores, at least here anyway, and I was shocked to find it breaks down surprisingly quickly. The ladies do a really great job of turning it into the soil of the run and in every softer, moister area I had, it broke down with the help of chickens in about a month and a half to two months enough that the grade of the ground was changed significantly enough to stop collecting water and grow greenery!