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

[abarnangh]

I only have 3 girls right now so it doesn't get messy often. I also use the sand box method under my roots and it's fantastic!

 

[lintlicker]

Deep clean 1-2 times per year, used the deep litter method for 30 birds in a 10'x18' coop. Using a tarp underneath the roost alleviates most of the cleanup as its attached to eyehooks we just unhook and drag it out into the woods, dump it then spray it off with a hose and hang it back up...simple and very effective.

 

[FrostRanger]

Deep clean 1-2 times per year, used the deep litter method for 30 birds in a 10'x18' coop. Using a tarp underneath the roost alleviates most of the cleanup as its attached to eyehooks we just unhook and drag it out into the woods, dump it then spray it off with a hose and hang it back up...simple and very effective.

I like that tarp idea, imma have to do that myself

 

[April Hen]

I clean my 4 coops early each morning. What makes easy cleaning is sand. Simply scoop the poop and put it in a bucket and dispose of it. Done.
Other than building coops to withstand strong storms including cat 1 hurricanes, ease of cleaning coops was a priority. It takes me about 30 minutes to clean out coops each morning.

I do too. I have a sand pit under my roost and clean it daily when I go collect eggs. Where do you dispose of your waste?

 

[dawg53]

I do too. I have a sand pit under my roost and clean it daily when I go collect eggs. Where do you dispose of your waste?

I dump the 5 gallon bucket of soiled sand in the tractor bucket. When it's full, I take it to the back of the property and dump it in a huge pile of soiled sand. All the waste breaks down in time. Then I use the "clean" sand to fill in potholes in our road off our property.

 

[BonnieBlue]

I clean my 4 coops early each morning. What makes easy cleaning is sand. Simply scoop the poop and put it in a bucket and dispose of it. Done.
Other than building coops to withstand strong storms including cat 1 hurricanes, ease of cleaning coops was a priority. It takes me about 30 minutes to clean out coops each morning.

Do you use sand on a poop board under the roosts, and on the floor?

I don't have a poop board but I use sand in my small coop and I really like the ease of cleaning.

 

[dawg53]

Sand on the floor only in all my coops.

 

[maddiek03]

Full clean out 2-3 times a year. But I have a sh*t shelf under all my roosting bars with sand so I take a kitty litter scoop and scoop that every day, takes a few minutes.

 

[BonnieBlue]

For those that use sand in their coop and/or on the poop boards, I use a flat grain scoop and garden sieve to clean the poop out of my coop. The sieve with the fine mesh disc allows the sand to fall through, but gets even smaller pieces of poop that fall through my kitty litter scoop. I have a small coop (only 4x4) with no poop board under the roosts. Every morning I scoop the sand and pour it into the sieve, working front to back. I can clean all of the coop, not just what looks like a poopy area, and know I have gotten all the poop out in approx 5 minutes. If I can finally get in position to move and have a larger coop, I will use poop boards with sand and the same method. It is very fast and very easy to do a thorough cleaning every morning.

 

[TLynne1]

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!)

I clean it once a day - late evening when they put themselves to bed so that it's clean when they wake in the morning. That's just sweeping that days poop. Then every other Saturday or Sunday morning, it gets a really good cleaning.

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!)

I sweep the poop every day - late evening when they put themselves to bed. I do a real cleaning (change the bedding and fresh lime every other weekend. I wish I had A- lined the roof so that rainwater would run off instead of sitting then dripping through the tarps. My neighbor and I are going to try and fix that over the next month or so (we both work)