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

[kismit]

the henhouse gets deep cleaned every season change, because its not a good design for deep litter. otherwise its as needed, with poop being raked out a few times a week but full bedding changes depend on:
is anyone camping out in there making poop mountain to avoid rain.
is it stinky
is it Dry

in summer, we rarely have to change the bedding often, because its hot and dry. dry doesn't smell like anything but pine pellets and chopped straw or hemp.

when the little goofballs refuse to go in and get drenched and Then come in, we will spot clean

 

[crystalsc]

Hello. Sorry I don’t have time to read through the previous 34 pages tonight to seek the answer so I would like to ask about changing out hemp bedding.

I have 4 barred rock pullets. They have been in their coop since August 22. They have not laid any eggs yet. They have hemp flooring and I scoop the poop every morning. Because of this and a litter tray and because they spend all day in their run or free, the coop stays very clean. It’s mostly feathers in the bedding. Now that it’s getting cold at night I was thinking about adding more bedding to thicken it up a bit but wondered if I need to remove all the old bedding first. I mean, I think it’s pretty clean but want to be extra sure.
Any advice?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Now that it’s getting cold at night I was thinking about adding more bedding to thicken it up a bit but wondered if I need to remove all the old bedding first. I mean, I think it’s pretty clean but want to be extra sure.

No reason to remove old bedding if you're not doing a clean out. I just add to keep the hemp level up until my yearly cleaning.

 

[crystalsc]

No reason to remove old bedding if you're not doing a clean out. I just add to keep the hemp level up until my yearly cleaning.

Thank you. My hubby seems concerned about the feathers but I don’t see a problem.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you. My hubby seems concerned about the feathers but I don’t see a problem.

The feathers shouldn't cause an issue. I tend to scoop them up because I want them in my compost, but otherwise they're fine just sitting there until you do do a clean out.

 

[BonnieBlue]

The feathers shouldn't cause an issue. I tend to scoop them up because I want them in my compost, but otherwise they're fine just sitting there until you do do a clean out.

I was wondering about feathers in compost. Do they break down? I have only put a few in my compost bin, but most have gotten thrown away.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I was wondering about feathers in compost. Do they break down? I have only put a few in my compost bin, but most have gotten thrown away.

Yes they break down. People pay good money for feather meal for their garden, so I figure this is the slower, free version of that.

 

[BonnieBlue]

Yes they break down. People pay good money for feather meal for their garden, so I figure this is the slower, free version of that.

Thank you for the information. I guess I should start putting all of the feathers in. I only put a few to see if they break down, and if they didn't, I wouldn't be picking so many out!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you for the information. I guess I should start putting all of the feathers in. I only put a few to see if they break down, and if they didn't, I wouldn't be picking so many out!

My compost sits for a year and I've never seen any evidence of feathers in there when it's ready for use. If it doesn't break down fast enough for your liking, you can also just toss them in the run and they'll break down extremely quickly with the chickens kicking them around and nibbling on them occasionally.

 

[BonnieBlue]

My compost sits for a year and I've never seen any evidence of feathers in there when it's ready for use. If it doesn't break down fast enough for your liking, you can also just toss them in the run and they'll break down extremely quickly with the chickens kicking them around and nibbling on them occasionally.

I use a composer, which seems to break everything down fast. I'm curious to see how fast they break down that way.