Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[smkchick]

I am trying the deep litter method this year, so I just keep tossing bedding on top. Looks clean that way. Doesn't smell because it is frozen solid. Problem is that is is getting so deep it will be hard to open the door soon. I am not looking forward to climbing in through the pop door with a pickaxe.

Thanks for the visual...

 

[smkchick]

my spelling once again is atrocious.

And yet, you can spell atrocious...

 

[Dahlisgrams]

And yet, you can spell atrocious...

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I am waiting for a thaw to clean the poop boards. No sense in fighting with it.

 

[JerseyHen]

my spelling once again is atrocious.

I thought maybe you were using a cryillic alphabet

I know I do all the time... by accident.

 

[Carolyn252]

I am waiting for a thaw to clean the poop boards. No sense in fighting with it.

I keep a long handled barbeque scraper tool hanging inside the ChickArena near the playhouse coop. Every morning I scrape the roost boards with the sharp metal front edge of the tool. The metal wire brush of that same tool works very well too. The boards are always completely free of all poop after a quick scraping and brushing. Even if the poop is frozen. Takes less than 60 seconds, but then again, I only have four chickens and I know that many of you have vastly larger flocks.

I use the deep litter method with pine shavings and DE sprinkled liberally. Once a week or so, I stir up the litter in the coop. That's where 99% of all the poop is because the chickens don't spend much daytime locked in the ChickArena. I let them out into the backyard from about 11am until dark every day.

As you can see from my avatar, my playhouse coop is freestanding in the middle of a predator-proof "cage" of heavy gauge welded wire walls and ceiling. I never have to wake up early to let them out of the coop, because the coop is never closed. They walk out of the playhouse and into the locked ChickArena whenever they wake up and they don't go back into the coop except to walk up the inside ladder to the nest box.










I empty the playhouse coop and ChickArena only once a year, in the Spring. At this point, early February, there's about ten inches of litter in the coop and about five inches in the ChickArena. The door to the coop and the door to the ChickArena both open out, (not in) so there's never a problem with too much litter to allow the door to open.

Never smells, never. I add more DE and/or more shavings whenever the poop remains visible after stirring it all up.

After scraping the roost boards, I sometimes spray them with a few quick squirts of a 50/50 solution of plain white vinegar and water and then toss a paper towel onto the sprayed boards and swipe the towel back and forth using the barbeque scraper tool. Leaves the boards clean as a whistle. I use the tool to carry the soiled paper towel into the trash can and so my hands never touch yuk.

What are some of the methods and tools and procedures you all use to clean roost boards?

 

[magsrags]

I thought maybe you were using a cryillic alphabet

I know I do all the time... by accident.

I am creating a NEW one! LOL Its entitled "fiongers mpoving too fast" or "can't be bothered by spell check".

I needed that laugh.....I am doing taxes.

 

[JerseyHen]

I am creating a NEW one! LOL Its entitled "fiongers mpoving too fast" or "can't be bothered by spell check".

I needed that laugh.....I am doing taxes.

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Cool set up Carolyn!

My poop boards are set up like a cat box and I have filled them with granulated Sweet PDZ. There is a cat box scooper that I use to sift the pdz and sometimes use a reptile screen mesh scooper to sift it but it takes longer that way. The plan is to replace it with fresh once it thaws. I've got about 30+ birds in that coop and it's grossing me out even though it doesn't smell. Sweet pdz is amazing stuff. Minerals and zero smell. Totally safe too and that's important to me. Just wish Spring would arrive.. lol

 

[magsrags]

I keep a long handled barbeque scraper tool hanging inside the ChickArena near the playhouse coop. Every morning I scrape the roost boards with the sharp metal front edge of the tool. The metal wire brush of that same tool works very well too. The boards are always completely free of all poop after a quick scraping and brushing. Even if the poop is frozen. Takes less than 60 seconds, but then again, I only have four chickens and I know that many of you have vastly larger flocks.

Carolyne that is a very efficient method you got going on. LUV it!

It's so much easier letting them free range during daylight hours for so many reasons including "turd herding" as I call it. But the scraper/brush combo was genious!

 

[Imprfctme]

Oh my god you guys crack me up! that Motherhood video was very funny.

Ok so I found the website for the Texas State Fair, and the poultry show portion is in October from the 12th to the 14th. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So start putting your vacation time in now! Christine is there a fair on in NJ again in May? This time we have to go to the Space Farms Zoo![/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Carolyn that is ingenious! I love the BBQ brush idea. I mucked the coop out today and I just swapped out the chips and stuff but I couldn't be bothered to wash everything down with it being so cold. I use a cat litter scoop every morning to pick the poop out of the sleeping area and I rake things around in the aviary parts until it's too gross to be ignored. I had some old porch railings in there for them to climb on but they are finally looking too crud covered. So I took them out and hid them behind a stump in my yard where only my a-hole neighbors can see them. HA![/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I also had to trim my Welsumer's Cross Beak with the pedi-paws tool. Gosh she loves that! Not. I'm getting better at holding her still with one hand while I do it but I still feel awful for her. On the other hand, she needs me to trim her beak or she doesn't eat as well. She hasn't been laying in a few weeks. I'm marking that down to winter strike. I might just worm everybody for the heck of it since I'm only getting a few eggs a week. What do you think?[/FONT]