Useful power tool for winter clean outs

[gtaus]

I know how everyone seems to use the poop boards but I am doing the same way my folks did it when I was kid allot smaller scale I do not do feed or water like then we know better now Dad had long tables with slat boards the crap drops I use a childs plastic rake to clean under them but we do not really freeze often

I have had so many comments about a poop board that it has me thinking about what might work for me. One idea is to make a poop tray under the roost and line it with empty feed bags. The poo would drop on the feed bag, freeze, then I suppose I could remove the bag and poo all at the same time. That might be an option to consider. But my first choice would be to let it fall down to the deep litter bedding and either mix it in with the wood chips, cover it with fresh bedding, or removing the frozen poo and dumping it into the chicken run/composting in place with the leaves I piled in the run.

 

[Flashpoint]

@gtaus Well, I really appreciate the post about using a tiller. I have an Earthwise electric tiller that has done a tremendous and awesome job tilling my extremely rocky gardens - and I now know how to make it easier to clean out the chicken barn!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Mine is called little Jo tiller it is black decker I thinks but the birds are so use to it they barely wait for it ti stop before they are scratching around where I turned up

 

[gtaus]

Mine is called little Jo tiller it is black decker I thinks but the birds are so use to it they barely wait for it ti stop before they are scratching around where I turned up

I am hoping that there will be lots of worms in the 12 inches of leaves I dumped in the chicken run this last fall. In the spring, I will out there with my mini tiller and see what it turns up.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus Well, I really appreciate the post about using a tiller. I have an Earthwise electric tiller that has done a tremendous and awesome job tilling my extremely rocky gardens - and I now know how to make it easier to clean out the chicken barn!

View attachment 1986506

I have a 40v tiller something like that. But I don't use the tiller in the coop because the tines of the tiller might rip up my linoleum floor under the wood chips. The 18v cultivator I use has a back and forth action and it allows better depth control. Also, the tines are not very sharp and they are mainly designed to mix up the medium.

The mini tiller is designed to dig down much faster with the tines spinning around and chewing up the medium. If I had a dirt floor in the coop, I'd probably use the mini tiller. I have used my 40v mini tiller out in the chicken run to turn over all the leaves I piled in there. Works great for that. But the chicken run has a dirt floor so I don't have to worry about ripping up linoleum.

 

[aart]

Well, the people around where I live that I talked to about it did not think it was a very good idea. What do I know? This is my first winter with laying hens and I'm still learning what works for me and what does not. Obviously, where you live plays a big part on how you manage our flock.

Even in the same/similar climates folks do things differently.
I'd bet your management techniques will change once full thaw rolls around in spring and you shovel all that damp bedding out of the coop.

Are you using wood chippings from tree trimmers or kiln dried shavings?
Even my baled shavings get damp when the thaws happen.

 

[Flashpoint]

I have a 40v tiller something like that. But I don't use the tiller in the coop because the tines of the tiller might rip up my linoleum floor under the wood chips. The 18v cultivator I use has a back and forth action and it allows better depth control. Also, the tines are not very sharp and they are mainly designed to mix up the medium.

View attachment 1986556

The mini tiller is designed to dig down much faster with the tines spinning around and chewing up the medium. If I had a dirt floor in the coop, I'd probably use the mini tiller. I have used my 40v mini tiller out in the chicken run to turn over all the leaves I piled in there. Works great for that. But the chicken run has a dirt floor so I don't have to worry about ripping up linoleum.

Understand on not using on linoleum. All the floors in my coops/sheds (other than the one I keep mowers and big tools in) have dirt floors. Over the years I have let a mixture of poop/straw/shavings/leaves/etc build up in some places since that part of the yard has a pretty significant slope towards the coops - to raise the ground level and let the rain/snow water run around the buildings and out into the woods. Even so, since you brought up the idea, I am looking forward to lowering some places with the tiller - including inside the coops. MUCH easier to let the tiller dig up the dirt than for this old lady to shovel it. All I will have to do it pile the loose dirt up where I want more of a barrier and cart any old bedding to the gardens.

 

[gtaus]

Are you using wood chippings from tree trimmers or kiln dried shavings?

Wood chips are from tree trimmers and sticks that I pick up around the yard and chip up with my Sun Joe 14 amp trimmer.

 

[gtaus]

I'd bet your management techniques will change once full thaw rolls around in spring and you shovel all that damp bedding out of the coop.

Since this is my first year with laying hens, lots of my ideas have been already evolving. No doubt, the spring thaw and cleanout will teach me a few more lessons. I am prepared to adjust accordingly.

 

[gtaus]

Even so, since you brought up the idea, I am looking forward to lowering some places with the tiller - including inside the coops. MUCH easier to let the tiller dig up the dirt than for this old lady to shovel it. All I will have to do it pile the loose dirt up where I want more of a barrier and cart any old bedding to the gardens.

Using the cultivator, or a tiller, to break up the bedding makes it much easier to rake or shovel out. It's also great for leveling out areas where things have piled up and/or where the chickens may have dug holes. I know I use the tiller in the garden to break up the soil before I shovel it out into a wheelbarrow. The soil is just so much easier to work with when it has breen broken up and is all nice and fluffy.