Poopy Coop Floor! arrgghh!!! *PICS!

[77horses]

We have pine shavings in the 3 nest boxes and on the floor. Here's what one of the coops looks like:

1 top, long perch
1 lower perch
3 nest boxes
1 flat platform
1 entrance for people
1 door for chickens
2 windows with flaps
1 ramp
Pine shavings on floor and in nest boxes


I drew two quick pictures as visuals of the coop(outside and inside).

But anyway, we have a problem; there is too much poop on the floor from the chickens!!!!!

and trust me, it's A LOT! 5 chickens live in the coop(2 hens, 2 pullets, and 1 rooster). Under their perches are mounds of droppings, and they are frozen! You can tell where each chicken loves to sleep.

It would be sooo easy to scoop out the poop, but it's frozen solid!

It's also getting in the nest boxes and getting rock hard. Some of the perches are poopy, too.

And the coop smells awful, too!

What can we do to keep the coop cleaner????
Thanks!

I will upload the pictures soon.

 

[Jenski]

With my 12 I police up the coops twice a day with a bucket, hand whisk and cat litter scoop. I just pop in there when they come out for breakfast ~ it takes less than a minute in each coop. Sure keeps the mess down!

This is only easy, I imagine, if it's a small operation like mine. Don't know what I'd do about that with a lot more chickens.

 

[77horses]

OK here are the pics:

Here's the inside(please excuse my bad handwriting!

and this pic is like looking down at the coop from above)

And here's the outsidesorry it's sideways. scanned it the wrong way!)

 

[maine chicks]

Ahh yes, poop patrol. Don't know whether the chickens or the dogs are worse this time of year. What I did in my coop is put a couple sheets of linoleum down then the pine shavings. It is a little slippery at first but not for long. When there is a sunny day and the birds are out I drag the pieces out and wipe them down with dawn dish soap and water. Dry them off and return them to the coop. Add fresh shavings and with a little weekly maintenaqnce I'm good for about 2-3 months. I have shoveled some out when it is real wet and added more shavings but it doesn't last long. If your floor is actually getting slippery you may not have enough shavings down for them to scratch around in. I have 11 chickens and 3 guineas in a 8x12 coop. The guineas have one third to themselves. They are much cleaner than the chickens. Good luck. I'm hoping for a Febuary thaw so I can do a total cleaning.

 

[77horses]

Thanks everyone! I'm hoping too, maine chick, that we will get a really warm day and all the droppings will thaw out.

 

[briteday]

I would put the food bowl either next to the water or closer to the people door. Then I would move the top roosts (currently parallel to the nests) to the other side of the copp. I find that if my birds don't have to walk through their poop my eggs are so much cleaner...and so are the birds' feet.

 

[frankenchick]

I just add new shavings whenever things start getting smelly, or when the girls have been inside a lot and the litter is really trampled. I use a dethatching rake to stir it from the floor up. I use a plastic trowel to clean out the nest boxes.

In the spring, I clear out everything and compost it.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If the litter and poop is too frozen to clean out right now, then I would put clean litter over the top, where it's dirty. You can do that as needed. It should help with the smell. An easy way to clean up perches is to put on a dust mask and scrape them. Once the floor of the coop isn't so poopy, their feet and the perch shouldn't get quite so poopy.

Is your platform bare and getting pooped on? That would also make it stinkier in the coop and add to their feet being poopy. I would put a small edge on it and put shavings on there, too. We do that with second levels or shelves in coops.

I hope we ALL get warmer days, soon!

 

[Jenski]

77horses, when we remodeled our banty coop DH used that white-coated board (melamine?) ~ you know the stuff if you've seen those closet shelves or shoe shelves at Target or Lowe's that you buy and assemble. He made the nest boxes out of that, so the platform that my chickens stand on is actually the top of the nest boxes.

And I tell you what, all you have to do is wipe it off, and it is nice and clean! If your birds get really messy, you can just dampen an old rag and wipe down. It's fantastic! After seeing how well that worked, we tore out all the other plywood shelves in there. I need to dig up the pics. . .

Hope that helps. Onward and upward in the Great Search for Better Poop Control Options . . .

 

[77horses]

Thanks everyone for the ideas!