What to do if I can't clean my coop for 3 months?

[citychicks99]

I will be having hip surgery in January and I believe I will be on crutches for a while, maybe 3 months. I hope I can be free of them sooner but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm currently the only one maintaining the coop. We repurposed an old dog house as a chicken coop.

I used Sweet PDZ on their floor and mixed in wood shavings. I would scoop up some of the poop almost every day and mixed everything up a bit but I have ended up changing out half of the coop once a week, mostly the area where they sleep because they don't like to roost and everything just looked pretty wet. I would also sweep away poop in their run almost on a daily basis.

I live with my brother and told him that he would have to clean the coop because I can't. He thinks it's too much work how I'm doing it and said he'll just use newspapers and change it every few days. Will this work? Is there a better (easier) option? I tried the deep litter method but didn't really get it.. are you still supposed to pick up the droppings everyday? It still smelled pretty bad but maybe I did it wrong.. I heard of people using a refreshing spray in their coop. I forget the recipe but has anyone tried anything like this?

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Is this your home that your brother lives in or do you live in your brother's home?
Do you have a neighbor, with a kid who would be willing to do this for a few dollars?
Can you just toss the litter around when the hens go out in the morning, it's only for three months. Or Just let your brother do it his way for the three months.
It is really important for you to get well, so you can take care of yourself and your chickens. If this takes some time. So be it. The long term is more important.
Welcome to BYC from New Orleans. Thoughts and prayers for you, your chickens and hoping you have Happy Holidays.

 

[citychicks99]

Is this your home that your brother lives in or do you live in your brother's home?
Do you have a neighbor, with a kid who would be willing to do this for a few dollars?
Can you just toss the litter around when the hens go out in the morning, it's only for three months. Or Just let your brother do it his way for the three months.
It is really important for you to get well, so you can take care of yourself and your chickens. If this takes some time. So be it. The long term is more important.
Welcome to BYC from New Orleans. Thoughts and prayers for you, your chickens and hoping you have Happy Holidays.

I'm not close with my neighbors so I don't feel comfortable asking. I guess I will just have to let my brother do it his way for 3 months. I think this lady on YouTube said she made a coop refreshing spray with Dr.Bronners soap and maybe alcohol? And it helped keep it smelling clean. I'll ask him to spray the coop with that once in a while to keep it from stinking.

Thank you! Happy Holidays!

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

I'm not close with my neighbors so I don't feel comfortable asking. I guess I will just have to let my brother do it his way for 3 months. I think this lady on YouTube said she made a coop refreshing spray with Dr.Bronners soap and maybe alcohol? And it helped keep it smelling clean. I'll ask him to spray the coop with that once in a while to keep it from stinking.

Thank you! Happy Holidays!

You can create a post saying you live in blank is there anyone close that would be willing to help. You might find someone on here..

 

[Ursuline Chick]

@citychicks99 if you find out how to make that spray, please let me know how to make it. We have a lot next door that someone is about to build a house on and I would like to keep my yard smelling as sweet as possible once they move in. Thank you.

 

[citychicks99]

@citychicks99 if you find out how to make that spray, please let me know how to make it. We have a lot next door that someone is about to build a house on and I would like to keep my yard smelling as sweet as possible once they move in. Thank you.

Have you tried Sweet PDZ yet? It does wonders for the smell! Some people just use it like kitty litter and scoop out the poop on a daily basis. I've been sprinkling it under pine shavings and I mix it up every few days. It seems like with keeping chickens everybody does things a little differently so you can see how you like to use it but I do recommend it over a spray. I couldn't seem to find that recipe I was thinking of. If I do I will let you know.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Thank you, I was just reading a thread on PDZ and thinking I may just try that. So glad to hear you are pleased with the product. I will get some after Christmas and give it a try.

 

[gtaus]

How many chickens do you have and how big is that converted dog house? Many of the recommendations on this forum suggest having 4 square feet per chicken in the coop. That would mean about 3 chickens max for most of the dog houses I have seen.

I live with my brother and told him that he would have to clean the coop because I can't. He thinks it's too much work how I'm doing it and said he'll just use newspapers and change it every few days. Will this work? Is there a better (easier) option? I tried the deep litter method but didn't really get it.. are you still supposed to pick up the droppings everyday? It still smelled pretty bad but maybe I did it wrong..

I am currently using free paper shreds which I make at home with my 12 sheet shredder. Paper shreds are very light. Every couple of weeks, I throw in another bag of paper shreds into the coop. The chicken poo and shreds stay in my coop all winter and does not get cleaned out until spring. The chickens will scratch and peck the paper shreds for the chicken scratch I throw into the coop. That scratching causes the poo to go down to the bottom and the fresher paper shreds works themselves to the top.

My coop does not smell using that system of deep bedding. But I also have a very high ceiling in the coop (about 8 feet) and built it to have almost 8 square feet per chicken. Lots of factors will affect the smell in your coop and how often you would have to clean it out. If you use deep bedding, or deep litter, then you should not have to clean it out but maybe once or twice a year.

My concern is that the dog houses I have seen are pretty small and have a very low roof. And none of the dog houses I had in the past were meant for chickens and cleaning out of the dog house. I mean, I had to literally lift the roof off our dog houses to get inside. Not easy for cleaning out if you have chickens.

If possible, I would suggest again trying a deep bedding solution starting off with maybe 3-4 inches of litter, and fluffing up the bedding or throwing on fresh litter as needed. I usually start my chicken coop with about 3 inches of litter in the fall, and by spring time, I have about 12 inches deep of litter. But I live in the frozen north and our chicken poo freezes solid and does not smell. Nobody around here, that I know of, cleans out their coops until the spring thaw. The deep bedding, or deep litter, does a great job for us in keeping everything clean and smelling good throughout the winter.

I hope you recover well. And while you are healing, take some time to rethink your backyard flock setup and maybe find a better way that works for you. I mean, I only clean out my coop twice a year and I don't have any health concerns. If you are cleaning out the coop every few days, then I think you might be able to find alternative methods that would significantly reduce your labor. Hope all goes well with your surgery, and you are up and on your feet in no time. Take care and best wishes.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Do you have pics that could help make things easier .

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Do you have pics that could help make things easier .

Also do they free range cause that plays a bigg factor weather coop gey more less poop