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

[SleepyChickens]

For me, I experimented and built an aviary-like run as a coop. I have 30 chickens in about 5,000 sqft coop area. During the day, the chickens spend time outdoor foraging (less poop inside).

That way, there's only few poop, mostly under where they sleep.
I also use deep litter method and add plants inside the run to encourage more soil microbes help breakdown the poop (the plants also absorb nutrient from the poop).

I have not cleaned it and it's been about 6 months now, and it still pretty clean and doesn't smell. Tho, once in every 2-3 weeks, I spray the run with probiotic water to increase beneficial bacteria in the soil.

I also mix in probiotic and charcoal powder in their feed, which help reduce poop smell significantly.

Here if you want to check out my chickens: https://www.youtube.com/@sleepychicken19/videos

 

[Farmgirl1878]

For me, I experimented and built an aviary-like run as a coop. I have 30 chickens in about 5,000 sqft coop area. During the day, the chickens spend time outdoor foraging (less poop inside).

That way, there's only few poop, mostly under where they sleep.
I also use deep litter method and add plants inside the run to encourage more soil microbes help breakdown the poop (the plants also absorb nutrient from the poop).

I have not cleaned it and it's been about 6 months now, and it still pretty clean and doesn't smell. Tho, once in every 2-3 weeks, I spray the run with probiotic water to increase beneficial bacteria in the soil.

I also mix in probiotic and charcoal powder in their feed, which help reduce poop smell significantly.

Here if you want to check out my chickens: https://www.youtube.com/@sleepychicken19/videos

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Wowowowowow!!! What a gorgeous setup! I think it’d be great fun to have an aviary like that but, living in waaaaaay-Southern Ohio, we have far too many predators and bad weather to have anything other than a metal roof. And certainly no bananas! We DO have pawpaws which taste like a combination of banana and mango. Cheers!

 

[Slickheadhunter]

I use a dog pooper scooper every morning under their roosts and in the coop. I also use a litter product called Sani Care from Espoma. Cheap and easy.

Where do you find this bedding?

 

[HappyHippyChick]

For me, I experimented and built an aviary-like run as a coop. I have 30 chickens in about 5,000 sqft coop area. During the day, the chickens spend time outdoor foraging (less poop inside).

That way, there's only few poop, mostly under where they sleep.
I also use deep litter method and add plants inside the run to encourage more soil microbes help breakdown the poop (the plants also absorb nutrient from the poop).

I have not cleaned it and it's been about 6 months now, and it still pretty clean and doesn't smell. Tho, once in every 2-3 weeks, I spray the run with probiotic water to increase beneficial bacteria in the soil.

I also mix in probiotic and charcoal powder in their feed, which help reduce poop smell significantly.

Here if you want to check out my chickens: https://www.youtube.com/@sleepychicken19/videos

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Nice!!!!! That's an amazing coop. What type of charcoal powder do you use?

 

[HappyHippyChick]

Every other day and sometimes every day.

 

[CeciliaSwift]

I scoop poop everyday. I change the entire bedding once a month and use a spray to keep out the mits.

 

[FL YaYa]

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

That's so funny ! When we had horses I LOVED mucking stalls... it was my quiet time : )
I'm less enthusiastic about chicken poop but still enjoy that satisfaction of a dwelling clean and welcoming .

 

[SleepyChickens]

Nice!!!!! That's an amazing coop. What type of charcoal powder do you use?

Thanks! I use food grade charcoal powder. But you can also use normal charcoal and grind it to powder, or use wood ash, just make sure it doesn’t have chemical/toxic residue.

I use 2% charcoal powder in the feed

You can check out articles about using charcoal here:

https://www.muranochickenfarm.com/2018/05/charcoal-for-chickens.html?m=1

https://www.farmprogress.com/livest...of,and more environmentally friendly chickens.

 

[MrsNorthie]

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.

We are lucky, our chickens do not tend to poo in their coop much, I tend to give it a good cleaning weekly, just because they love the attention, knowing we are doing stuff for them. LOL 3/4 of the run is grass, 1/4 tends to get wet and holds a little water with heavy rains, so I put wood shavings down in that section of the run, too. When I clean, I rake out that section of the run, collecting pooh and pine wood shavings for the compost pile, then sweep the shavings from the coop out into the run, sprinkle coop refresher and put fresh new shavings and straw in the coop. They keep me company while I am doing the work and coo and cluck their approval at being waited on hand and foot, I think they also really like it when I have the music going and we are going to have to get them their own bluetooth speaker system. LOL

 

[Yvette In California]

Mostly, for my tiny flock, when it needs it. The coop itself has a poop tray, and I usually use a kitty litter scoop and remove the poop every other day. You know, the poop is REAL. As for the run area, if I'm deep littering then it would be somewhere between 3-6 months with maintenance as needed. If I'm not, then it's probably once a week or so.