Poop management

[Arielle]

A few thoughts after years of raising animals . . . .

Keep the grass as it will use up the nitrogen in the poultry poo and it will be way nicer to walk on once the yard is under control.

Dog poo. You can choose: perhaps start with dumping it into the trash until you can find the time and muscle to dig what ever composter system suits you. 12 years ago I visited a dog breeder, with some 50 dogs! This was her livelihood and bred very nice dogs. She had a nice big dumpster to dump the doggie waste and haul it away. That's what worked for her.

It's hard to do the clean up when you have little time after working another job. Just getting the feeding done, I bet, is a challenge. You might pick just one thing to tackle and when that is under control, go for the next.

WHen you're ready--go for it!

 

[Nicole01]

We have a poop scooper with a long handle for the dogs. It gets cleaned often(2-3 times weekly) which Hubby cleans. I'm in charge of the chicken coop and run. I clean out the coop 4-5 times a day and the run gets raked and washed 1-2 times a week. I do pick up poop in the run where they usually lay everyday. I use a litter box scooper. My 17 year old is in charge of the litter boxes and are scooped daily. Since I'm disabled and live in severe pain, I need help with the cats and dogs. Cleaning chickens is easy. I sit in my chair to scoop it out and I spend quality time with my girls.

 

[Keltara]

Quote:
Nicole
I just visited your BYC page. You are a true inspiration

!! I'm so happy you are able to stay at home and also have the joy of your children and your pets in light of what happened to you. I noticed that you had shavings on the floor of your coop. I just wanted to pass some info on to you. I have sand on the the floor of my coop 1/2 inch deep. Sand is soooooooooooo easy to clean. I just use a kitty litter scoop and it takes me less than one minute per day to clean our coop. The floor of the coop is 4x4 and it is raised. It has absolutely no smell and the poop dries as soon as it hits the sand. Construction sand is the best and you can get it in 50lb bags at Lowes for about $2.40 a bag. Construction sand is sharper than play sand which is beneficial to the hens in keeping their feet in great condition. If I remember correctly, It only took about 3 bags for my coop. We are planning to put it in our run as well before summer is over. Our girls free range during the day, so it's not an issue in the run yet. It is a way better alternative to pine shavings. When we do put it in our run, I'm going to make a home made fine mesh scooper attached to the end of a pole. I'm certain it too will be very easy to clean. I am certain that it would be a better alternative for you as well. Blessings to you for plugging through life with such a great attitude. You have very lucky children and pets!

 

[Xtina]

I do have a bag of sand that I was planning on putting down in the run. In the coop itself I have sawdust right now. I have a giant bag that I bought when I got the new chicks, so I was going to use that up for sure before I move onto a new material. I cleaned up the backyard tonight and it's much more pleasant, but there's so much more work to be done. It's so hard to get the grass clean from poop, and that's the real problem. I need to mow as well! And kill the blackberries. My yard problems are never-ending. I really have too many things going on for the space I have.

You guys have given me some great advice and motivation. Obviously I know that having poop lying around is a biological contaminant, and not good for the animals or me, otherwise I wouldn't have posted this. Really what I need is more practical solutions to the problem. I tore up a lot of grass tonight picking up poop, and the grass is already suffering from the ammonia in the dog pee and from the lack of rain here in the summertime. Add buying a new sprinkler to the list of things I need to do.

 

[Avienda]

I've only got one dog, but I refuse to step in dog poo. I just scoop it up and dump it into the vacant field next to our yard. I've been really good at it. Good enough that if my 2 year old see's the dog poo he'll run and get the scoop, bring it to me, and show me where the ewwww is! lol
I don't worry about the chicken poo, as I only have 9 of em and a pretty good sized yard. I hose down their pen every night to help keep it clean too.

 

[briteday]

Just a thought here...instead of following around the dogs after they poop, why not train them to eliminate in a specific area. We have three dogs and they are trained to poop in a 10' x 10' sand pit that we made for them. We dug out about 4-6" of topsoil, filled it with sand that the neighbor had left over (free!), and decided from that day to have he dogs eliminate no place else. We surrounded it with little boxwood bushes (it's not all that far from the patio) and scoop it weekly. It's really easy to scoop because the solids just sit on top of the sand. In the beginning we put up a little plastic fence around the sand pit to teach them that they don't get to play in the yard until the eliminate in the pit. If they didn't eliminate then they went back into their crate for an hour and we tried again. By the end of my 2-week vacation they were all on track and could be trusted on the lawn. I don't mind if they urinate on the grass ( and they figured that out pretty quickly!) but they usually do just about everything when we take them to the pit as soon as they wake in the morning, after they are fed, when I get home from work, and just before bed.

As far as the chickens, I found that letting them free range in the back yard adjacent to our patio was just not an option. The flies on the patio and near the back door were horrific. And we live in a very dry climate. I can't imagine what it's like in Oregon with the precipitation you get. So I fenced off the way back part of the yard (away from he patio by 30 feet) with some t-posts and cheap plastic snow/deer/garden fencing. It keeps the chickens away from the house and patio yet affords them the freedom to roam outside their run. During wet or snowy weather they are confined to the run though. Slimy chicken poop is no fun for anyone! When they were grazing near the house we would just hose it down hard with a spray attachment on the hose until dissolved. Now that they are farther away from the house I don't do anything.

Also, by fencing he chickens into a specific area we don't have to worry about the dogs going into the chicken area and eating chicken poop anymore. And I don't have to worry about my chickens being exposed to the dog poop. Both species harbor common intestinal parasites and once either (dogs or chickens) become infected it can become a vicious cycle that can be difficult to control in the long term

So just my $0.02....think outside the box. Instead of cleaning up after the dogs and chickens, figure out a way that the place they eliminate might be more controlled to reduce the amount of poop scooping that you have to do.

 

[Xtina]

I actually have wanted to train them to use the bathroom in one spot...another on my list of things I've been wanting to try but haven't gotten around to. My plan was to create a rain shelter attached to the side of the greenhouse (which is over the back porch), hoping they would naturally want to use that spot all winter since they wouldn't have to get into the rain. I tried to hire a friend to do the work, but he flaked out and the job didn't get done. It's still on my list though and your tips are going to help me manage the training aspect, since I have severe doubts as to my dogs' ability to learn this. Hopefully, they'll like the concept and do it for the benefits it offers. It would really simplify my life to have all the dog poop in one place and off the grass. The chickens though...part of the reason I want to keep chickens is so that I know they're getting some grass in their diet...which is why I let them on the grass. It's a sacrifice I'm not totally happy about making. I guess I'm not totally opposed to fencing them off the grass. I've done it before and I can do it again.

 

[hokankai]

*raises hand*

Biodegrable poop bags. Very easy to find in Portland and PERFECT for cat and dog waste...and excess chicken poop

 

[kira782]

I pay the kid next door to come over once a week and pick up dog poop. Works wonderfully!

 

[gale65]

Quote:
I know this isn't the topic of this thread but if you do take your dogs for walks, please please pick up their poop if they go. That is one of my pet peeves, seeing dog poop in parks and on the sides of the sidewalk/road, etc. The park closest to us (about 5 miles away-the next one is about 15 miles) quit allowing dogs because people wouldn't pick up after them.

After reading this I'm glad we have a big place and our dog mainly goes back behind our grain bins in the tall grass. I say mainly because lately she has been going in other areas but none near the house. When she was a pup and we had her confined near the house (before we got her trained on the invisible fence) we picked up the poo a couple times a day. Wait. By "we" I mean "me".