Poo Poll

[bethsplace]

i keep my boxes clean also but i use my cat litter scoop how do you keep your hens from sleeping in boxes?

 

[cluckin_crazy]

I don't even have to rinse my eating eggs with water they always so clean. I'm super neurotic about my eggs. Here's the thing though - I put my 3 month olds in the coop today with the big girls... came home and all 6 of them were crammed in one nest box and had been pooping in it... so I guess I will have to let go for a while

 

[mrsbos]

I'm just starting to get chicken poo desensitized. I've had my chickens for 7 months now. When we first got the chicks, every chicken poo in the brooder box set off my 10-step cleaning process to sanitize and clean everything. That was a lot of work. I've gotten to the point now, where if one of my girls jumps in my lap and her feet aren't exactly clean, I'll just brush the "dirt" off my pants leg without freaking out. That's about as far as I've come though. I keep a small garden trowel by the coop for the purpose of scooping and flinging occasional turds out of the nest. Though everyone in the family has their "outside shoes" lined up by the back door, even with mine on I still tip toe/hop/skip around my backyard like there are land mines everywhere. I don't like the thought of stepping in the chicken poo...

 

[Wynette]

WHEW! Okay, I feel better - thanks, friends!

To keep chickens from sleeping in nest boxes, I put empty feed sacks or empty supplement buckets into the boxes about 5-6 p.m. each night, then remove very early the next morning. After a few weeks of this (you must be diligent), they typically have changed their habit and found a better place to roost at night!

 

[sonew123]

Too funny...I do it all the time as I have 8 hens that share a huge nest. SOMEONE always manages to do it in there. Ill scoop it with fresh shaving so its not just the poo-sorta the way a kitty litter box pee pop gets scooped? either way doesnt bother me..Just have to make sure I dont go to move my hair or bite a nail beofre I scrub hands down!

 

[3goodeggs]

it's just poo.
If it were leaches or something equally awful, then I'd have to get someone else to do it.

 

[the-bird-man]

chicken poop does not bother me. just throw some shavings on top and pick the whole wad up. its nothing compared to what i had to deal with when i did custodial work

 

[JayDee]

I (almost) always wear thick suede garden gloves when I'm out in the garden, and even so, wouldn't do it often! We keep a tiny spade and a bucket near the coops for daily scoop outs.

We're quite lucky, it's rare enough that there's a poo in a nest box. I try not to clean our eggs because I read that it ruins the natural protective coating.

 

[PepsNick]

I'll only flick it out of the feeder. Hate it when they decide to roost on there, and chase each other for dry poop...

 

[CCourson05]

I pick poo when I see it. I don't go out of my way to do it though. I am not about to pick all the poo beneath their roosts though. That would be a messy job.