Official BYC Poll: How Often Do You Clean Your Coop?

[aart]

What is elector psp?

elector psp

 

[Dhkoenig]

View attachment 2583103​

It's not a pleasant part of keeping chickens, but it's one we must all deal with regardless: poop. How often do you clean your coop out? Don't include pens in your answer, just your coop or coops. Do you find it easy or difficult to clean them out? What changes to your coop design or technique would you make to improve the process?

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

My sweet hubby made me poopy boards which are filled with a combo of Sweet PDZ and san. My coop floor is hemp but rarely do any of the poops land there since the poop boards are there. Daily I scoop the poop boards and about once a week replenish the sand. I hand scoop any stray poops in the hemp if there are any. I will probably empty out the whole thing, clean poop boards and coop late spring and again in late fall. I think I will be removing and scrubbing the poop boards every couple of months.

 

[Dhkoenig]

View attachment 2583103​

It's not a pleasant part of keeping chickens, but it's one we must all deal with regardless: poop. How often do you clean your coop out? Don't include pens in your answer, just your coop or coops. Do you find it easy or difficult to clean them out? What changes to your coop design or technique would you make to improve the process?

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

My awesome hubby built me poopy boards that are filled with sand and sweet PDZ. The floor of my coop is hemp. This is a game changer because before the poopy boards I was scooping every bit of poop out of my coop daily and changing over and sanitizing the coop quarterly. Now it is so easy - I scoop (like a litter box) the poop and surrounding sand out of the poopy boards and either smooth over or add more of the sand. I pick up any rare stray poops on the hemp floor but those are few and far between. I am thinking I will do a big change-over and sanitization in late spring and late fall, and take out and scrub the poopy boards every month or so

 

[DobieLover]

and take out and scrub the poopy boards every month or so

Why?
Chickens cannot be kept in sanitary conditions. Just removing the nightly poop load and keeping the litter dry, relatively clean and as low in dust as you can is all the birds need in a well ventilated coop.
I've never once cleaned out the poop boards. I just scoop them daily, add more material when needed and that's it. They've been in use for nearly 3 years now.

 

[aart]

Why?
Chickens cannot be kept in sanitary conditions. Just removing the nightly poop load and keeping the litter dry, relatively clean and as low in dust as you can is all the birds need in a well ventilated coop.
I've never once cleaned out the poop boards. I just scoop them daily, add more material when needed and that's it. They've been in use for nearly 3 years now.

Ditto Dat....for 9 years.

 

[Cryss]

Why?
Chickens cannot be kept in sanitary conditions. Just removing the nightly poop load and keeping the litter dry, relatively clean and as low in dust as you can is all the birds need in a well ventilated coop.
I've never once cleaned out the poop boards. I just scoop them daily, add more material when needed and that's it. They've been in use for nearly 3 years now.

Ditto Dat....for 9 years.

Agreed. I have a 2 foot long heavy duty scoop I use to pull everything from the far side of the poop board to the front which naturally brings the PDZ with it. Once everything is upfront it’s easy to just scoop up the poops. Then I push PDZ back into place. Once a week or whenever I need to add pdz I will scrape all of the current PDZ to the back half on the other side of the roost. I add fresh to the front half. I realize that sooner or later all PDZ bits will be scooped away so I only need to add to it. The portion up front usually stays cleaner because they usually face forward as they sleep. I do wipe down their flat roosts once a year with 50/50 white vinegar/water. But daily I scrape off any droppings, cover the spot with some dry PDZ, then finish scooping the board while the PDZ dries the spot up. When I’m finished scooping I go to each roost poop spot and rub that pile of PDZ into the board. This scrapes it clean. Then I just sweep it away with a little dust broom I keep in the coop. I sing the praises of PDZ!

 

[Three Little Chicks]

I'm a fanatical neat freak so having chickens is a good exercise in giving up some control and embracing natures well digested colors... lol. That said I clean every day and add fresh cut herbs to cut down on insects. The fresh lavender and sage I swear does the trick.
Every morning I actually look forward to the cleaning of boards. Once a week I pull the linoleum liners and scrub them. But the biggest help I think is a quick rake of fresh droppings once out free ranging so they break up faster and don't come into the house on shoes.
Now....ask me how often I scub my floors.......HAHAHA!!!!!

 

[Chicken poppy]

Why?
Chickens cannot be kept in sanitary conditions. Just removing the nightly poop load and keeping the litter dry, relatively clean and as low in dust as you can is all the birds need in a well ventilated coop.
I've never once cleaned out the poop boards. I just scoop them daily, add more material when needed and that's it. They've been in use for nearly 3 years now.

Very late response:

I agree, however i think its more for me then the bird (sense i do the same thing)

I wash down ramps and all very well, almost daily. That being said, thats a lot of work and in my opinion doesn‘t do all that much for the chicken, but it makes me feel better when handling them and handling the stuff inside the coop knowing everything is clean.

 

[Duckduckchicken32]

We clean our chicken coop whenever it needs it.

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

It really depends on the season. During the winter months, when they stay inside, I clean it once a month, but pull out the poop weekly. I rarely clean during the warmer months since they're outside all day, every day.