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

[Ted Cambron]

I used to make it a point to do a quick clean up once a week but that's because the type of the set up I had. It depends on how you manage your coop. The factors include but not exclusive to are:
1) Using the "deep litter" method.
2) Using a poop board.
3) The number of chickens.
4) The size of the coop.
5) Do the chickens free range?
6) How much do you love your chicken?

 

[Muser]

I clean out the run and the coop weekly, Saturday morning on the dot I love a clean hen house. Chicken friendly Pine straw I use for under the roosts and scattered over concrete slabs in the run - they have a large area of the garden to free range in for most of the day also, i don't really need to clean that as the weather takes away most of the poop.

Friends and family who visit always say that they are suprised my chickens don't smell, even in the summer months. I think this is the reason.

 

[Muser]

I shockingly enjoy cleaning out the coop. Typically once a week or every other week.

Yes! Me too, it's theraputic and makes me feel like when my girls jump to my shoulder, I'm less dirty that I would be if I didn't do this!

 

[peafowl_Lover]

I clean out the coop once a year. Whether it needs it or not!
The poop boards are cleaned every morning. The floor of my coop gets very little poop in the bedding as the birds go out to the run as soon as they come off the roost and wait there for me to release them.
When winter really bears down, they will spend more time hunkered down in the bedding of the coop.View attachment 2583454
I'll be doing a cleaning next month. It'll get hit with a spray down of Elector PSP when I've emptied it and before I bed it down.

Love the coop design, I'm probably going yo make something like that in my new coop

 

[98cwitr]

Ive found pine shavings to stay WAY cleaner than hay for some odd reason. I clean it all about on average about once a month, or whenever it needs it

 

[Loving my girls]

I shockingly enjoy cleaning out the coop. Typically once a week or every other week.

Me too, I can spend an hour if I take my time with numerous rests and stuff. At the end I have a sparkly clean coop.
It takes days to clean our home and it never gets sparkly.
What’s not to love ?

 

[Loving my girls]

When I clean my chicken house I have to...
~Wear a mask
~Wear boots
~Wear glasses
~Turn on a fan
~Open the windows

Don't even ask what it's like in the 105F summer.

The same thing naked ?

 

[SkyWolf]

I clean my hen house every other month. I’ll sometimes clean it more often in the winter cause it gets dirty faster.

The yard is different though, and I clean less frequently. I have two coops, one with a cement floored run, the other is dirt. For the cement one I clean it whenever it needs it, so more in the winter and less in the summer. The dirt one I only usually clean every 6 months when I deworm my flock.

 

[Jenbirdee]

clean out all poops every day.
deep clean coop once a season.

 

[Will You Rescue Me]

I just like to stay on top of it, I find it’s easier to clean it when the mess is fresh. I like giving them a thick layer of bedding to do with what they will, makes it easy to pull on some nitrile gloves and just grab whatever is wet or dirtied. I like scrub brushes for anything stuck on and I try to replace anything I take so if I grab a handful of bedding from one area, I’ll put a fresh handful in the same spot. I like to put the coop recouperate underneath of the bedding to help with moisture control and any possible odour so the neighbours don’t have to smell it. But if I can keep the coop looking brand new I will. Find it also helps that my hose can reach it if I need to deep clean and I only have a few silkies anyways so it’s not a real big mess anyway. I wasn’t really planning on becoming a chicken caretaker, but I can’t say I regret it.