Needing advice on maintenance in a chicken run

[Prettyinpink]

Hello, I'm very new to this, only had my chickens a few days so I'm wanting some advice. Each day I poo pick inside the coop and makesure its all nice and clean but do I need to do this to there run? Unfortunately I can't free range my two chickens so they have a run to wander around in but this means they poo and walk through it. The run is on the grass which I'm aware will dissappear eventually which is fine I will put bark on it once this happens but what I'm unsure of is do I need to poo pick every day or do you just leave it? Will it become horrid and smelly in the run? Or do I do it once a week? Any advice would be great thank you

 

[bacibeau]

Hello, I'm very new to this, only had my chickens a few days so I'm wanting some advice. Each day I poo pick inside the coop and makesure its all nice and clean but do I need to do this to there run? Unfortunately I can't free range my two chickens so they have a run to wander around in but this means they poo and walk through it. The run is on the grass which I'm aware will dissappear eventually which is fine I will put bark on it once this happens but what I'm unsure of is do I need to poo pick every day or do you just leave it? Will it become horrid and smelly in the run? Or do I do it once a week? Any advice would be great thank you

Hi I'm quite new to this too (my chickens are 14 weeks now) but I'll let you know what worked for us:

Inside the coop, we installed these rods underneath their roosts and we sat little cardboard trays on top to catch their poop. That way, we just take out the trays and dump them in the trash its much easier that way (I'll post a few pictures later). We also bought a bag of herbs that are good for chickens and sprinkle some every now and then in the coop.

For the run, we put down a layer of wood chips (we asked the people who cut our lawn if they had extra and they dropped off a huge load for free). Every 2-4 weeks or so, we add another shovel of wood chips on top and spread it out. You should probably put wood chips down as soon as possible because they keep the run dry and smelling good. We also have a roosting bar out there (in my profile picture) so they can jump up there if they want so they don't have to sit on the ground.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

There are many different ways to manage manure. Some people do clean up all the poops daily or even multiple times daily.

Other people have the Deep Litter system so perfectly balanced that they never clean their run at all unless they want to harvest compost for their garden.

I personally have a run where I NEVER pick up poop and which has not been cleaned out for over a year -- I just keep on adding more dry organic material so that the litter and the manure compost together. There is no odor and I have no fly problem.

This is my article on Deep Bedding, which I use in my coop. That's a bit different than the Deep Litter I use in my run, but I haven't written that article yet.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[mowin]

I clean my coops probably every 3 months. Sweep all the shavings and poop into the run and clean the poop boards( poop board mess doesn't go into the run). Add limbs branches and other debris as needed. After 3 yrs, run started building up and I used a pitch fork to to remove about a foot of built up stuff.

 

[Boise-girls]

I'm also pretty new (3 months), but I do the same as most for coop and run. My coop is small, so I pick up roost poop every morning. They don't spend much time in it otherwise, so it stays pretty clean. Unfortunately, I've been having a depluming mite problem, so have had to clean it out a couple of times. I don't think it would have been necessary otherwise, though.

In their covered run, I have a mix of straw, hemp, wood chips, compost and whatnot. I throw in veggie peels and a little scratch periodically to encourage them to turn it. They love it and I've had no problem with flies or odor. I also spray it down with water occasionally - it's very dry here.

I do pick up their poop in the larger chicken yard, which is mostly in grass and vegetation. I don't like to step in it, and I think picking it up keeps down the flies better than stinky fly traps. (I'm also retired - I would probably have a different plan if I were still working. )

 

[rosemarythyme]

With just 2 chickens I'm assuming your set up is pretty small as well?

Volume does make a huge difference - a smaller coop and run will require more frequent cleaning as there simply can't be enough litter to absorb the poop. So if you can manage to do a daily surface clean up of poop, that will likely give you the best result and allow you to go a little longer between full clean outs.

 

[CKfarm22]

I'm also pretty new (3 months), but I do the same as most for coop and run. My coop is small, so I pick up roost poop every morning. They don't spend much time in it otherwise, so it stays pretty clean. Unfortunately, I've been having a depluming mite problem, so have had to clean it out a couple of times. I don't think it would have been necessary otherwise, though.

In their covered run, I have a mix of straw, hemp, wood chips, compost and whatnot. I throw in veggie peels and a little scratch periodically to encourage them to turn it. They love it and I've had no problem with flies or odor. I also spray it down with water occasionally - it's very dry here.

I do pick up their poop in the larger chicken yard, which is mostly in grass and vegetation. I don't like to step in it, and I think picking it up keeps down the flies better than stinky fly traps. (I'm also retired - I would probably have a different plan if I were still working. )

I saw that you have a problem with mites and flies. I picked up this stuff from my local farm animal supply store and let me tell you, TOTALLY worth the money. I sprayed it around the coop, windows and door frames, and in any nooks where mites like to hide. I haven’t seen a fly, bug, spider, anything of that sort since i sprayed.

 

[CKfarm22]

Hello, I'm very new to this, only had my chickens a few days so I'm wanting some advice. Each day I poo pick inside the coop and makesure its all nice and clean but do I need to do this to there run? Unfortunately I can't free range my two chickens so they have a run to wander around in but this means they poo and walk through it. The run is on the grass which I'm aware will dissappear eventually which is fine I will put bark on it once this happens but what I'm unsure of is do I need to poo pick every day or do you just leave it? Will it become horrid and smelly in the run? Or do I do it once a week? Any advice would be great thank you

I currently have three hens in my run, where they spend most of their day. It is quite small i would say 9x5, and the bottom is just dirt (plan on building onto it soon). I throw in a little bit of scratch grains and they claw at that ground, which kind of turns the dirt. I haven’t had an problems with flies or anything of the sort. You could use a rake every now and then to turn the dirt if they don’t already do it. I had seen other replies saying they use wood chips but i feel that would be way too much work to replace. Eventually the waste breaks down into the soil, you could probably put a little water and then rake it which might work also. Hope this helps!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I currently have three hens in my run, where they spend most of their day. It is quite small i would say 9x5, and the bottom is just dirt (plan on building onto it soon). I throw in a little bit of scratch grains and they claw at that ground, which kind of turns the dirt. I haven’t had an problems with flies or anything of the sort. You could use a rake every now and then to turn the dirt if they don’t already do it. I had seen other replies saying they use wood chips but i feel that would be way too much work to replace. Eventually the waste breaks down into the soil, you could probably put a little water and then rake it which might work also. Hope this helps!

If that works for you then you're lucky - without litter the soil under my run will destabilize and turn into mud due to the fact that we get a lot of rain. I got away with not using any litter for the first 6 months or so of having chickens, but after that the mud and stink got worse and worse until it was clear that I needed to add something to fix it.

Once a year I rake the chips from my coop into my run. Wheelbarrow in 4 or 5 loads of new chips, and that's all the work to replenish chips in coop and run in a typical year. So deep litter is a pretty low maintenance system when it works, however as I noted earlier volume of litter also matters, so in a 9x5 run it probably is not be possible to get enough volume of litter to do that, unless it was very thick.

Also a note: as a general rule adding water into a run is the opposite of what you'd want to keep odor away, as a dry (or relatively dry) run is less smelly in comparison to a wet one. An example of an exception would be a composting run in an arid climate, that would probably require some added moisture to keep the composting action going.

 

[CKfarm22]

If that works for you then you're lucky - without litter the soil under my run will destabilize and turn into mud due to the fact that we get a lot of rain. I got away with not using any litter for the first 6 months or so of having chickens, but after that the mud and stink got worse and worse until it was clear that I needed to add something to fix it.

Once a year I rake the chips from my coop into my run. Wheelbarrow in 4 or 5 loads of new chips, and that's all the work to replenish chips in coop and run in a typical year. So deep litter is a pretty low maintenance system when it works, however as I noted earlier volume of litter also matters, so in a 9x5 run it probably is not be possible to get enough volume of litter to do that, unless it was very thick.

Also a note: as a general rule adding water into a run is the opposite of what you'd want to keep odor away, as a dry (or relatively dry) run is less smelly in comparison to a wet one. An example of an exception would be a composting run in an arid climate, that would probably require some added moisture to keep the composting action going.

We ended up putting some plastic roofing from home depot over the run top to keep it covered and it seems it work great for us. I only stated what worked for my run and how i keep it maintained.