Thats not bugs OR snow 🤧

[Debbie292d]

how does one clean up the poop in the coop when using pellets?

You don't. It dries out. I can walk barefoot in my coop and not get poop on me.

As the pellets absorb the poop and dry it out, they start breaking down to sawdust. In about a year in our one coop, they get about 80% sawdust and then we haul it out in a wheelbarrow, dump some in the garden, some around the trees, some in our compost bins, etc.

 

[Echelontheory101]

The dust is basically non existent tonight! Guess I need to go in there with a damp towel once a week and give everything a wipe down

 

[Sydney65]

That might be worth trying this winter but I love the sand the rest of the year. Ill look into it!

It could also be chicken dust and not sand dust but dont really have a way of knowing that. Maybe I'll cover the floor in tarp for a few hours this weekend and see if the dust is still flying around like that. If so its the chickens not the sand and then can try and find a solution from there haha

When I remember to, I have disposable masks to wear while working out there. It's either that, or a sinus wash..or hold my breath. Our runs sound similar, & dust is part of the joy of having birds. Now, I have guinea, not chickens. But I'd be concerned about a tarp creating a slick surface causing potential leg injuries? That might just be a guinea concern.

 

[Echelontheory101]

When I remember to, I have disposable masks to wear while working out there. It's either that, or a sinus wash..or hold my breath. Our runs sound similar, & dust is part of the joy of having birds. Now, I have guinea, not chickens. But I'd be concerned about a tarp creating a slick surface causing potential leg injuries? That might just be a guinea concern.

Luckily I didn't have to do that test after all, I went out there and wiped everything down with a wet rag and the airborne dust disappeared so it was definitely just because of dander buildup with the plastic covering up the sides of the coop and not the sand floor. Also yes totally! I wear a respirator while I like really clean the coop, but while I'm just in there sitting with them I don't wear a mask and yes definitely I go through so much saline nasal spray too LOL

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

My winters are brutally cold and snowy. In one coop last year I used pellets on the coop floor. I also have poop boards with sand. The scooped poop from the boards would get tossed on the floor under the roosts. Eventually the piles froze into pellet-poop clumps that I would (try to) turn with a pitchfork. The pellets evenutally broke down.
The real problem I have with pellets is foot issues from birds coming off yhe roosts. Have a ramp as an option because a frozen wood pellet landing is no treat for hearty standard size heritage breeds.
The coop still had dust, btw.

 

[Echelontheory101]

My winters are brutally cold and snowy. In one coop last year I used pellets on the coop floor. I also have poop boards with sand. The scooped poop from the boards would get tossed on the floor under the roosts. Eventually the piles froze into pellet-poop clumps that I would (try to) turn with a pitchfork. The pellets evenutally broke down.
The real problem I have with pellets is foot issues from birds coming off yhe roosts. Have a ramp as an option because a frozen wood pellet landing is no treat for hearty standard size heritage breeds.
The coop still had dust, btw.

Thank you for sharing!

I ended up sticking with my sand (and spent coffee grounds on the poop board under the roost) I don't think it was sand dust I think it was just feather dander dust because my chickens are 12 weeks old so they're growing in their adult feathers right now so the dander is crazy. I found if I go in there once a week with a mask on and just wipe everything down with a wet rag it keeps the dust way down. In the summer I literally hose the entire coop ceiling to floor down which is great but in the winter I don't want to add that much water, but the wet rag seems to be working well enough to get me to March or April when we get back above freezing temps hopefully! then I can take the plastic off the sides of the coop luckily and the cross breeze keeps it way down as well.