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I agree with Jess. My poop scooping time has doubled with the addition of the wee ones. And, we know it will go up even more as soon as the eggs hatch. I do scoop poop every single day - sometimes twice a day - to keep my yard kid-friendly, and to keep the smell non-existent. I did have issues with my neighbors at first. It was pretty bad - but I think relationships have been mended and they have commented more than once that they are surprised they don't see or hear my birds.
All the poop goes into closed garbage cans until I can find the time to bury it in the garden beds. So far, so good. For the most part, until you see the coop, or unless you hear them, you can't tell I have birds in my back yard at all. Cleaning the chick's poop up is much harder than cleaning the big girls poop because the chick's poop is so tiny. Honestly, I can't wait until they start pooping bigger poops to make the job easier.
Jessica's yard is huge. It's easier for me to scoop poop because the area my chickens free-range in is much, much smaller. It just takes a few strides back and forth across my yard, and I'm done. Finding all the poop in a yard the size of Jessica's would be very difficult.
Being that you are in Seattle, I would guess that you have a smaller yard???? Cleaning would probably be quicker for you, than it would for someone with a larger yard. Hope that helps.
I sit on 10,000 sq. feet - but most of that land is my front yard and a rather large side yard that the chickens rarely go on (unless they're in the chicken tractor).
Yeah, I have a smallish yard (but not tiny) and it takes very little time to clean it up. I never smell anything and none of the neighbors even know I have chickens. They haven't said anything about it anywayThe only time I hear the hens is on the weekends when I don't open the coop as early--they like to complain, but it isn't terribly loud. I'm just very sensitive to it, I hop up and let them out right away and go back to bed. I think my entire lot is 7000 sq feet. about half in front, half in back. The neighbors to the left don't speak English, the house to the right is empty and has been for sale forever, we don't have anyone directly across the street, the closest house across the street from us has chickens also. People behind us are never around and we never see them. We have a 10 foot hedge between us and them. Our yard works well for the chickens even though it isn't large.
If I fence off the patio, that will eliminate probably 80% of the clean up I have to do. I don't plan to get anymore Jersey Giants--she has HUGE poops. Easy to clean up, but geesh.