people who don't use deep litter method

[Anny]

For those people on here who don't use deep litter method, how often do you clean? what bedding do you use? how do you keep it clean?

 

[MandyH]

We use sand and have to clean about once in the fall and once in the spring. Actually we don't HAVE to clean, I just like to tidy up a little. 6 to 8 inches of sand is what we shoot for, deeper is even better. Usually all I do is run a rake over the sand to pull all the loose feathers out.

 

[MandyH]

We use sand and have to clean about once in the fall and once in the spring. Actually we don't HAVE to clean, I just like to tidy up a little. 6 to 8 inches of sand is what we shoot for, deeper is even better. Usually all I do is run a rake over the sand to pull all the loose feathers out.

 

[Anny]

isn't the sand very heavy? is it like scooping a litter box when you clean?

 

[MandyH]

There is no scooping. If you get sand, not dirt, it stays dry. If the weather gets bad and some rain should blow in the coops, all you have to do istake a steel rake and run over the top of it to stir it up and then it dries out real quick. We even use sand in the runs so there is no poop soup in the winter. Sand drains all the water to the bottom and it also pulls the moisture out of the chicken poop and it just dries up and goes away. No smell, no flies, nothing. I have about 300 chickens and have tried averything, this works.

 

[LynneP]

I spot clean daily. We have planks over concrete, and the wood is treated with food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE) and 'Stable Boy'. I use the equivalent of 2 bales of wood shavings on a floor 9 x 11'. We have roosts and two platforms that I clean with a paint scraper and catch bucket. I use a kitty litter scoop on the floor and move moderately-soiled liter under the roosts for a while, then clean that our and put the cleanest bedding on the rest of the floor.