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

[Sara S]

lol i would totallly do it for u and if u don’t want ur brother doing it for you ask a friend and just explain it to them/ a checklist. You’re recovery comes first like people are saying, how Many chickens do you have? I have 4 in the coop only to sleep, they free range most days. I spot clean and change Shaving every week. Currently I have switched to hay, it’s great and my chickens like pecking the little Wheat droppings. Do u have pictures of your coop as well? Good ventilation I’d a bug just for smell and some fumes aren’t the best for your girlies.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I don't know where you live, but you might be surprised at who may be willing to help for a few months. Do school kids have to do service projects where you live?

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't know if your coop is suited for Deep Bedding, but when well setup it doesn't require cleaning for at least 6 weeks and possibly up to 6 months or more.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[citychicks99]

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 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.

We only have 2 birds so they should have plenty of room. We built a door for them that's a ramp style and we left two inches off at the top for ventilation. They also have ventilation holes under the roof. I think the dog house is about 3'(w)x4'(d)x4'(h). We haven't finished converting it yet so we only have their entrance to clean. I would love to somehow open the side and clean it without having to go in their run.

 

[citychicks99]

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

No, not really. I try and let them free range in the yard when I'm around but my brother doesn't really do it. I can ask him to let them out for a bit often. They usually go back in their coop on their own after a while.

 

[Tervuren]

I'd see if you could find a 4H kid to come clean for you. I did that kind of thing as a kid. Good luck with your hip surgery!

 

[gtaus]

We only have 2 birds so they should have plenty of room. We built a door for them that's a ramp style and we left two inches off at the top for ventilation. They also have ventilation holes under the roof. I think the dog house is about 3'(w)x4'(d)x4'(h). We haven't finished converting it yet so we only have their entrance to clean. I would love to somehow open the side and clean it without having to go in their run.

Looking at your pictures, I might recommend you cut a drop down door in the back and just sweep out the spent bedding/litter as needed. Looks like you have a nice setup for your 2 chickens. Just have to figure out a way to access the inside of the coop to make it easier for you for cleaning. Still think some kind of deep bedding would buy you more time between cleanings. Nice conversion.

 

[gtaus]

I don't know if your coop is suited for Deep Bedding,

@citychicks99, looking at the front of your dog house with ramp, I am thinking you could simply put a 4"wide board across the bottom of the opening, standing on end, so you could use deep bedding and have at least 4 inches deep. Of course, as you mentioned, you need a better way to access the inside of the coop other than just the front door.

FWIW, I designed my coop for deep bedding and made the inside holding area 12 inches high to hold the litter. I used linoleum over the wood and just brought up the linoleum up 12 inches on the walls. I don't start out with 12 inches of bedding in the fall - maybe 3 inches - but I keep adding bedding throughout the winter and by spring time it gets to be almost 12 inches deep. I have a ramp inside my coop going up 12 inches to the bottom of the pop door, and then I have a ramp on the outside going down from the pop door to the ground. I clean out my coop twice a year, but I could easily go a year or more between cleanings. Deep bedding is a great system for me.

Again, I think you need better access to the inside of your coop and some kind of door in the back seems to me to be the easiest solution. Putting a board across the front of the opening will prevent the deep bedding from falling out. Some kind of deep bedding should buy you the time you need to heal before you have to clean out the coop.

I hope you can get things done before your surgery. It will save you lots of labor in the future. Best wishes.

 

[gtaus]

I try and let them free range in the yard when I'm around but my brother doesn't really do it. I can ask him to let them out for a bit often. They usually go back in their coop on their own after a while.

I would not worry about that. My chickens stay in their coop for all the snow months here in Minnesota. They don't even want to go out into the snow covered chicken run. They seem to do just fine. You have a nice chicken run and that should be more than enough room for them to stretch their legs while you recover.

 

[tigger19687]

Can you get a bale of straw or hay and a barrel of old fallen Autumn leaves?
Put them in the run area, yes make it all fluffy so they have something to dig around in. Have your brother toss some scratch feed in there twice a week.
Put PDZ on the bottom of the dog house and 3-4 inches of shavings, they will dig in there a bit and mix the poop themselves.

I would be MORE worried about the feed and water.
Can you post a pic of what you have now? If you don't have a self feeding container buy one that holds about 5 pounds of feed- Keep it in the dog house because of your rainy weather it's better. maker sure not to have one too big as the humidity in WA might make mold.
Waterer can be outside since you don't freeze there. Put it on a cinder block so tht dirt and stuff stays out of it. You can either just make sure they can get to it or do as I do, put it on 2 cinder blocks and then put 1 cinder block in front so they can stand on it to reach..... I have hens that kick the dirt/shavings EVERYWHERE !

Here is a pic from my security camera. You can see in the lower Right is the heated dog bowl for water. It's actually on 1 cinder block and a smaller wall block because I used the other cinder block for the feed..... middle to the Left is the feeder- self made auto feeder

The roost area is makeshift for this year, I was hoping to have a new house this Winter but it didn't happen so...I do have PDZ on there but only sprinkled on because I didn't put a piece on the end to stop it from falling on the ground. I did scrape it this morning.
If they don't roost then don't worry about it. But you may want to put a large diameter stick/ thin log, for them to sleep on. I think they like to have their feet on something.