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

[Chicken poppy]

that raises the question of why are you in the chicken coop without shoes on?

Im not! Okay, well, i see how it may have come across as that.

Even with boots on, somehow, when i get in the house, my socks are covered in hay. Its like how when you paint, you somehow get it on your forehead.

 

[rosemarythyme]

RMT, how has the hemp worked out for you? I have only used hemp so have no other comparison. I love the hemp but it is pricy. What r your thoughts?

It works great under the roost and I plan on continuing to use hemp in that section. I refresh it as the layer drops down but only clear it out once a year.

Because of the price I still find it more sensible to keep the rest of the coop bedding as wood chips as those are free and useful doing double duty in the run afterwards, and the chickens poop very little away from the roost area anyhow.

 

[Desham66]

3-4 weeks. I noticed the straw in there looks dark, It makes me think there's moisture in it.
I bought a new coop about 3 months ago, I painted the inside walls and put linoleum on the floor to make it easier to clean.
Was I wrong to do this? I have an OverEZ large coop now,

 

[3KillerBs]

3-4 weeks. I noticed the straw in there looks dark, It makes me think there's moisture in it.
I bought a new coop about 3 months ago, I painted the inside walls and put linoleum on the floor to make it easier to clean.
Was I wrong to do this? I have an OverEZ large coop now,

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters.

OverEZ coops, while better built than most of their competition, are notoriously under-ventilated -- which can cause moisture problems. If you haven't made modifications already, you'll probably want to add additional vents right up at the top of the gable peaks to allow warm, moist, ammonia-laden air to escape.

Here are a couple articles for you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

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

 

[Bobcatbob]

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 every day, as we use sand and it can be sifted out using a small hand sifter, it only takes about 10 minutes into a bucket and then to the compost pile.

 

[Debbie292d]

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!)

If referring to the floor, once a year (we use horse pellets) but the shelf in front of the hen boxes, on top, and their ladder, once per week and it goes in the compost, so I put 1 week. We have silkies/frizzles that perch on the ladder, on the shelf, in the boxes, and on top of the boxes.

 

[Debbie292d]

3-4 weeks. I noticed the straw in there looks dark, It makes me think there's moisture in it.
I bought a new coop about 3 months ago, I painted the inside walls and put linoleum on the floor to make it easier to clean.
Was I wrong to do this? I have an OverEZ large coop now,

I don't know what that coop type is, but we've used 4" of horse pellets which is 100% compressed pine. It absorbs the poo. We change it once a year. We've done this for 7 years and love it.

 

[OneMoreChicken]

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!)

The coop (nesting boxes) and roosting bars are cleaned off every morning. Two of our girls like to sleep in the boxes so ...poop. I rake under the roosting boxes almost daily. Some days I have to run out the door for work. I have an open coop. I clean the run out every weekend. I had shavings and after a few months of grossing me out I cleaned it all out and out sand and absolutely love that for my climate. I now have nesting pads in the boxes instead of straw. So far so good but the girls love ripping it up to lay in the perfect spot so may use the bail of straw I have. I use just a small amount of First Saturday Lime once a week sprinkled around and it keeps smells and flies away.

 

[Lumley Farm]

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.

I love your set up in the coop. I clean every day but have not done an internal clean. Just one year for me. I have a failed Dobie Foster. She's cray cray!!!

 

[DobieLover]

I love your set up in the coop. I clean every day but have not done an internal clean. Just one year for me. I have a failed Dobie Foster. She's cray cray!!!

How's her hearing and her light tolerance? The Z-factor Dobies always seem to be very light sensitive and squint when they are outside and in bright light.
My Bella is cray cray too. But it's the Min Pin puppy that made her that way!