What’s the best type of coop for my situation?

[Christy’s coop]

Hi guys not been on here in a while but back with a question, so firstly I keep my chickens as pets rather than livestock and don’t have many, we will soon be getting 2 more bringing my total too 6 hens and no plans of getting a cockerel. So I was wondering if anybody had any plans or pictures of beds for inside your chicken coop as I have a large shed they go in.

I clean my chickens out once a week so I’m looking for something that I can clean really easily, just scrape it all out in one go kinda thing.

I am a joiner by trade so making it myself won’t be a problem, just want too know what kind of beds would be best

TLDR: what’s the best easy too clean bed for chickens

 

[humblehillsfarm]

To clarify, chickens don't need bedding. They don't bed down on the floor, they roost. Whatever you put on the floor is simply "litter" as it is there to collect poop and provide a soft landing when they jump from the roosts.

In my early days of chicken keeping I had only roost bars and straw for "bedding". Straw molds easy and can house bugs and pests too easily as I quickly found out, so I switched to pine, which is a much more appropriate litter, not a bedding. Pine didn't mold as easily, but the amount of poop was amazing. I was constantly adding and adding and adding more pine shavings to try to offset the poop smell. It seemed very expensive.

Finally I learned about poop boards and installed one of those. The Chicken Chick has a good article about it. I lined the board with Sweet PDZ (a horse stall urine odor eliminator, highly absorbent compostable, but dusty). I used a cat litter scoop and scooped the poop daily. So at that point I had the poop board and was using pine shavings. This worked pretty well, but the pine shavings broke down too much and were very dusty after only a couple of months. Still better than before! https://the-chicken-chick.com/droppings-boards-because-poop-happens/

Later I switched to using coffee grounds (bought from Tractor Supply), and the coffee grounds were amazing. They smelled nice and I could scoop any stray droppings. They are dust free, compostable, and very nice. I started saving my own coffee grounds to replenish what was lost to scooping, but ended up building a coop 4.5x larger than my old coop, and I haven't had a chance to make the move to switch back to coffee grounds. Here are pictures of my old coop and my experiences with using coffee grounds in addition to a poop board: https://humble-hills-homestead.com/2020/07/24/using-coffee-grounds-as-chicken-coop-bedding/

Since I've built a new coop, I didn't have enough coffee grounds for the entire floor, so I've switched from Sweet PDZ (which is dusty) on the poop boards to using coffee grounds. I bought five bags from Tractor Supply, so when the pine shavings (which are VERY dusty) are depleted I will switch back to the coffee grounds entirely. I no longer keep pine shavings in the nest boxes, and instead started using squares of turf, which have been wonderful to clean. You can view my current setup here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cluck-mansion.76239/

If your shed doesn't have a dirt floor, or it only has a plywood floor, I recommend getting some sort of plastic paneling (you can buy sheets of plastic used for cheap bathroom jobs to line the walls) or linoleum to put on the floor to protect the floor from moisture. Personally I do not keep the water in the coop unless the chickens have to be locked inside. Water adds too much moisture to the air and is too susceptible to spills. Still, poop has moisture too and you want to protect that floor.

Was this information helpful to you?

 

[aart]

what’s the best easy too clean bed for chickens

What exactly do you mean by 'bed'?
The nests where they lay eggs...and not supposed to sleep?

 

[Christy’s coop]

No sorry for not being specific, the nests where they both sleep and lay

 

[aart]

No sorry for not being specific, the nests where they both sleep and lay

They should not sleep in the nests, then you won't have to clean them daily.
Do you have roosts in your coop?
Pics of coop would help here.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

No sorry for not being specific, the nests where they both sleep and lay

They should not sleep in the nests, then you won't have to clean them daily.
Do you have roosts in your coop?
Pics of coop would help here.

Yes, chickens WANT to roost. They do not naturally sleep where they lay eggs unless they are actively hatching eggs. Chickens poop when they sleep. They definitely don't appreciate sleeping on their poop anymore than you or I would. Only a hen trying to hatch eggs can (usually) control when she poops so she does not poop on her eggs. Do you have any available roosting space for them? Definitely pictures will be helpful.

Edited to add: I have had, in my experience of chicken keeping, two older heavy breeds (cochins) who I adopted as adults. They never roosted, so I think there are sometimes exceptions to the rule. I've probably had close to 30 total chickens so far (chump change compared to some folks on this site) and those were the only two who never naturally roosted.

 

[Moxieminxie]

If they are in a shed and you want it easy to clean this is what I would do. Build a double wide nest box with a privacy curtain, they always use the same one anyway and if you only are going to have 6 chickens it will be enough space. Give them a roosting bar at least 1 foot away from the wall and 5 to 6 feet long made of wood, thicker is better. Build a tray about 2 feet wide running the length of the bar underneath, that your wheelbarrow or whatever waste container you want to use will fit under so you can put shavings on it and scrape waste right into it. If this ends up being much more than 3 or 4 feet off the ground you may need some intermediate steps to help the birds get up there.