Sanitation!!

[doublecrossranch]

You aren’t the first person to think I’m crazy
Are we talking good, fun crazy or she needs to be committed crazy??

It’s no fun only being one kind of crazy. Lol. You are awesome.

 

[Chickglamma]

Yes, they walk all over their poop, but this can be mitigated by having a variety of bedding sizes, like bark, chipped wood, mulch...etc. we piled in some chipped wood recently. It has settled down well, but still about 8” thick. Their feet seem cleaner, but there are still droppings I can see some of the time. In another area, we added several bags of coarse paved sand, sawdust, and peat moss. They dust bathe in this area and I never see poop bc it is turned over all the time.


I’ve never used sand by itself, so I can’t comment on how often to clean it.

 

[Chickglamma]

I just finished my coop today, I am curious to see how the sand will hold up. I laid down pavers, and then added 4 ~ 50 lb bags of sand. Im hoping by using a litter scoop it would be easy to clean. My coop has a full roof, and is under a car port, therefore i shouldnt have to deal with rain/mud etc. My girls are 6 weeks old almost completely feathered, except around there necks. So Im hoping to move them out of there brooder tomorrow, its just too cramped in there. I am dealing with the sand falling out of my run, any ideas on something i can use around the bottom to keep it in? Thank you,

 

[Acre4Me]

I just finished my coop today, I am curious to see how the sand will hold up. I laid down pavers, and then added 4 ~ 50 lb bags of sand. Im hoping by using a litter scoop it would be easy to clean. My coop has a full roof, and is under a car port, therefore i shouldnt have to deal with rain/mud etc. My girls are 6 weeks old almost completely feathered, except around there necks. So Im hoping to move them out of there brooder tomorrow, its just too cramped in there. I am dealing with the sand falling out of my run, any ideas on something i can use around the bottom to keep it in? Thank you,

boards! We just added about 20 yards of chipped wood to our chicken run (chain link fence). So it was quite deep. The chipped wood keep flowing out/getting kicked out by the chickens so we scrounged for boards and placed them along the bottom. This keeps the wood in, mostly. The birds still kick some out, but it’s a lot more manageable.

 

[aart]

I clean the coop every single morning. Completely. No poop, no bedding left. Everything is swept out and I put new down. I add some DE, some lavender, and some herbs because they smell nice and they are good for the girls if they happen to eat them. Is this wrong? Am I making them weak by cleaning the coop too much?

Overkill, IMO...especially the DE and herbs. The DE is useless and the herbs are just for you
What do you do with all the bedding? How big is your coop with how many birds?

We just added about 20 yards of chipped wood to our chicken run (chain link fence). So it was quite deep.

Why so deep in run? No place to store the pile?

 

[FireGal]

The DE is to help with mites/lice. I’ve never seen them but if I understand correctly DE can help with that. It also seems to help dry up the poop imo. The herbs may be just for me, but the girls seem to like them too. I don’t think they do harm and they may help in some small way with keeping flies and other critters away.

We save the bedding for compost for our garden.

The coop is 8x8x10. It has a sealed wood floor, a full size storm door on the south side, floor to ceiling roost bars on the west side, and three nesting boxes on the north side. To add to the overkill, it is painted and decorated. It has chicken related paintings on the walls, coordinating fabric curtains on the windows, and matching bows over the nest boxes. We have eight chickens.

Yes, I see the eye rolls. I know the girls don’t care, but I do. I spend a lot of time in and around my home. I like nice things. It may be silly, but it makes me smile and it doesn’t harm the girls.

 

[Acre4Me]

Overkill, IMO...especially the DE and herbs. The DE is useless and the herbs are just for you
What do you do with all the bedding? How big is your coop with how many birds?


Why so deep in run? No place to store the pile?

The run is 500 sq ft, and the pile has settled too. But with all the rain over the last 12 months the run had hardly any covering above the dirt and we needed to get it covered back up. But, also true no where else to put it!

 

[aart]

Yes, I see the eye rolls.

Yep She Shed
Hey, whatever turns your crank<shrugs>

The run is 500 sq ft, and the pile has settled too.

Still 20 yards is a lot!
I'm having a vague recollection of a pic of this..while ago tho...maybe not. CRS.

 

[Acre4Me]

Yep She Shed
Hey, whatever turns your crank<shrugs>

Oh yes, definitely a lot. But we got 20 yards for $45, but the much smaller load was $30, so we went with the $45 load! I think I did post a pic a while back. It was comical bc it was so “fluffy” before it settled that the chickens seemed like they could look over the top of the fence at us.

Now, it’s not quite so high.

Still 20 yards is a lot!
I'm having a vague recollection of a pic of this..while ago tho...maybe not. CRS.

 

[FireGal]

She Shed was taken. We call it the Flock Shop