tell me what your cleaning routine is!!

[Billy-jean]

Ok,,I would really like to know how everyone does their cleaning out of houses..runs ect...and what you do with all the hay/straw/pine shavings...
And how often you do it...

 

[jessiduck]

I have a large dog house for a duck coop, so I unscrew the roof and just rake/pitch fork the dirty hay out into a plastic garbage pale that I keep down by the run. (One of the reasons I use hay is because the shavings can cause respiratory problems!)
I keep the fresh hay in a aluminum tin can because rodents can't chew threw the tin! I throw some clean hay in and screw the roof back on!
In the spring, summer, and fall I change the coop every two days!
In the winter, I layer the clean hay on top of the dirty hay 3-4 times to give them some warmth. Then I3
clean it out after 5-7 days.
Once my chickens are outside I will also move the food outside. I keep their food in another aluminum tin!
All of my duck/chicken supplies are going to be kept outside for convenience!

The run doesn't need much cleaning!
However, when it does, I use just a bamboo rake and a broom pan to catch it all!
Feathers are just something I cannot control! They go all over! I'm tempted to use a leaf blower and blow them out LOL!

 

[beardiemom]

I have just 8 ducks. I clean every other week and it takes maybe 15 minutes from start to finish. There is a large door on the back of the coop that opens so I can shovel out the wood shavings. They go into the compost pile in the woods. I used to clean at least once a week and in the winter it was a solid mess. But then we renovated and added more screened windows and ventilation and this winter the coop was a breeze to clean. It is now no different than cleaning the chicken coop.

I expect that a combination of good quality shavings and good ventilation is why the air quality is just fine for our boys.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok,,I would really like to know how everyone does their cleaning out of houses..runs ect...and what you do with all the hay/straw/pine shavings...
And how often you do it...

I clean everyday, first off I moved all my nest boxes to another house so I now can go into the main coop in the mornings and clean to try and keep the flies down. I use Oxine mixed with water in a spray bottle spray all the roosts wipe them down real good, then the shaving [I use deep litter] The poop on top of the shaving I scoop with a shovel, i have a large plastic container with a hole in the bottom that I keep out side the door, I scoop the shaving with the droppings on top and dump into container I do ducks and chickens the same way excpet my ducks sleep in stalls so no roots, Then after scraping out top shaving with poop from the night before I stir the bedding up real good, then I go back and either spray with Oxine in the larger pump garden sprayer or Poultry Protector Switching every other night . Usually only 1 time a year do I take out all bedding from the duck side only, chickens only half. I top dress shavings as needed which is usually about every other week. After I fill the container with shaving and poop it sits for about a week I spread it around under all my plants except what I am growing for eating I use the duck pool water for them.

 

[Billy-jean]

I clean everyday, first off I moved all my nest boxes to another house so I now can go into the main coop in the mornings and clean to try and keep the flies down. I use Oxine mixed with water in a spray bottle spray all the roosts wipe them down real good, then the shaving [I use deep litter] The poop on top of the shaving I scoop with a shovel, i have a large plastic container with a hole in the bottom that I keep out side the door, I scoop the shaving with the droppings on top and dump into container I do ducks and chickens the same way excpet my ducks sleep in stalls so no roots, Then after scraping out top shaving with poop from the night before I stir the bedding up real good, then I go back and either spray with Oxine in the larger pump garden sprayer or Poultry Protector Switching every other night . Usually only 1 time a year do I take out all bedding from the duck side only, chickens only half. I top dress shavings as needed which is usually about every other week. After I fill the container with shaving and poop it sits for about a week I spread it around under all my plants except what I am growing for eating I use the duck pool water for them.

wow,,you keep things really clean!! Can I ask what poultry protector is,,and Oxine?

 

[Miss Lydia]

wow,,you keep things really clean!! Can I ask what poultry protector is,,and Oxine?

It's not spotless thats for sure, heres some info on PP. http://www.mannapro.com/products/poultry/poultry-protector/
oxine ah
http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm

 

[stone_family3]

I push around the shavings, add DE if need be and dump their water pan and put new water in it. My two ducks are only six weeks old right now so not sure if they'll be getting more messy or not.

 

[Going Quackers]

No run, well that is used on a routine basis.. most of the birds free range...

I have stall mats on the floor of my barn, each day i use a stall fork to remove droppings and then stir the bedding(i use shavings) I have DE mixed in too, I keep a wheelbarrow by the duck barn and then when it gets full wheel it over to the manure pile that they share with the bunny stuff lol.
I'm rural and i have a manure spreader that i can pare down the pile after it's composted down... i use some in my veggie garden too.

 

[Tahai]

I have my 16 ducks in a 5x7.5 converted chicken coop with a linoleum floor. I'm using the deep litter method (about 2 weeks into it now). I have a drain in the low corner of the floor so excess liquid doesn't build up. I've only noticed an ammonia odor twice. The first time, I put down another bag of pine shavings. The second time, I gave it a good stir, then put down about 10 pounds of stall-dry I had lying around, then another bag of pine shavings. When I first started them in the coop, I was adding new pine all the time. I went through 6 bales the first 2 weeks. Now that it's built up some bulk, I'm using about a bale a week. I'm sure as it get really moving along with the microbes, I'll be using less.

I don't feed them in the coop, so they only get a big mixing bowl full of water with them when they go to bed, and that's it. I figure that keeps them in water for a few hours of the night. They are old enough now to go 4 or 5 hours without a drink. I'll be building a water porch for the winter months to continue to keep the water mess outside.

As far as the run goes, I have a portable pasture, which I relocate every 2 weeks. So far, my ducks haven't made a mud mess of anything. When I move the pasture, I just mow where the fence was, and let the decomposers and the rain do their work.

It helps that I have a 5 acre property, and am able to devote 1 semi-hidden acre to the hobby farm aspect of my life. I imagine if the ducks were housed closer, and my property smaller, I would be much more concerned with how the pasture/pen looked and smelled.

 

[nickie]

I have a strange setup but it works for me. My coop is attached to the turkey hut. 30 chickens in the coop, the shared wall has a screen only window into the turkey hut. 12 turkeys and 6 chicks all 9 weeks old (the turks are the size of full grown chickens though) have their own setup in there with a "stall" type wall and door. The ducks (3 of them) sleep outside of the stall in the turkey hut. All floors are modified deep litter (not run on an earthen floor, but built 18" off the ground so I don't get true composting). The ducks get an old plastic ice cream tub of water set on a plank should they need it but they are the only ones to get water at night. During the day ducks are free range, turkeys are out in groups while monitored, and chickens are ranged or in their run depending on if the kids are out (small children and a very protective rooster ask for problems so when the kids are out the chickens, most of them at least, are in).

Cleaning: any wet spots or super big globs of duck poo get shoveled put and tossed into the chicken run. Daily bedding fluff in the hut all around and add as needed. The chickens dust bathe and scratch in the ducks bedding during the day and try to figure out how to open the scratch bin Coop is fluffed weekly and scratch is tossed in one corner or another daily to have it turned over for me. Bedding added as needed.

I have an amazing amount of ventilation so I don't have any odor. My coop will be cleaned out in the fall after the garden is done for the year and put there, the ducks and turkeys I am still building up so I don't know when it will need a change out.

I throw wet bedding into the run to give the chickens something to scratch through when its dry and to keep the mud below boot eating level when its wet.

Is like to share one nice little idea I had as well. My duck pond glorified backyard water feature we dug ourselves. I put a pond pump in it (sucks during molt, but the test of the time its great). Nice long hose on the pump run through some rock for a pretty waterfall. I moved my garden spot to be closer to that water and farther from the veggies stealing cluck patrol. I water my garden by using the hose from the pump while its still running and refill it with drag water. So much easier than buckets.