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

[Iluveggers]

I second the idea of a door off the back! If you can cut a large door, and add hinges and a lock, you could open it to the side, stick a rake or hoe in, & pull the shavings out the back. Not sure what type of surgery you are having, I was on crutches because of my hip a few years ago but had already committed to caring for my neighbors chickens, so I had my 10 year old come with me when I went over. He did all the heavy lifting and moving and I just supervised. If you belong to a church (or even if you don’t), maybe call there and ask to talk to the religious education director? Our church is always looking for projects to have the kids get service hours for confirmation, so you might get lucky and find a teen that can stop for an hour each weekend and just rake out & replace shavings! Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery!

 

[citychicks99]

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.

Oooh good idea about throwing something in the run. They do seem kind of bored in there. I put in a mirror, a beam, and a planter with old plants but they still seem like they need more things to peck at! I'm sure one of my neighbors has some old leaves I could have..

For the food and water, right now I'm just using old food containers and I clip them to the side of the run. I just bought a medium feeder from ratprooffeeder.net and it should get here today. I think I could put that in their house once I teach them how to use it. We have one of those giant one gallon plastic waterers we could use.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZUNKO...abc_VN7F764939ZBC4PKRDX9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I'd rather use a smaller container so I could clean it out daily but my brother prefers convenience over cleanliness so it will have to do for now. I am considering getting them this though https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J6S35LM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_ED9KBBJZK3AW7WTE4NCM

 

[gtaus]

I'd rather use a smaller container so I could clean it out daily but my brother prefers convenience over cleanliness so it will have to do for now. I am considering getting them this though

I made a hanging 5 gallon PVC feeder for my chickens. I hang it in the chicken coop, but my coop is a lot bigger than your dog house conversion. Anyway, I only fill it up with maybe 2 gallons at a time and it will last my 7 chickens over 10 days before it needs to be refilled. I have had that PVC 5 gallon feeder for over 2 years and it has never needed to be cleaned.

Here is an example of the type I built. There are other designs as well.

 

[tigger19687]

Don't worry about dirty water They will pick mud over clean water every time...
You can't tell in the pic I posted but the water in the dog bowl has shavings/dust on the bottom. I clean it out when the temps are warm enough to keep the door open for a few to 'toss out' whats left after rubbing my hand inside it to 'clean it'.

 

[jenniferwebster2007]

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.

The deep litter method is actually an amazing way to keep chickens. If your in a cold environment especially because as the litter is tossed by your chickens and scratched up because of you putting treats etc in the coop the litter and bedding starts decomposing. As this happens naturally it gives off heat. I have use the deep litter method from the start and only had to clean out my coop to three times a year. And there was no smell in our coop. We also did white washing two times a year in the whole coop after we cleaned out everything to get rid of anything that would’ve been growing or issues in the coop. Which we never did visibly see but just as a precaution we did that along with the removal of litter. The other concern that I would have with chickens not roosting is that if you were in an environment that gets cold winter environments the chickens actually need to roost especially if they’re on a beer floor. Chickens are meant to be able to roost to put their feathers and body over their feet to keep warm. If they’re not allowed to you could have issues with frostbite on their feet and they can actually lose their foot or leg all together. So that’s something to consider. The deep litter method if you’re not going to put a roosting bar in there would actually be very good for them because it would provide that extra layer of protection and heat. Another thing to consider is just training your chickens to roost. You can do that.

 

[vpatt]

I'm curious to learn what u do and how it works for you. I use pdz and I'm very happy with it. I sprinkle 4-5" of wood chips over it ( some times straw). I also feed wet feed and I think that helps by making the chicken poop dryer....although that makes no sense to me it works. I had the same type of issue for about 3-4 months. I had a broken elbow and covid. My husband fed for me during that time. He did some things differently and they survived! For one thing I had been trying to let them free range part time and he left them in the pen all the time. I ferment their feed and he only added water to it ( just before feeding/ not giving it time to ferment). And he fed them A LOT MORE feed than I do. (He's used to fattening hogs, i guess)Also, he did not clean the coop during that time. They thrived through it all. I hope you heal well and quickly!!

 

[Jajika]

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?

Hi citychicks99. I had a similar situation as I had hip replacement surge While I'm not your doc, if you have the same surgery, I had, you may be surprised at how mobile you will be just after a month. My limitations involved not turning out my affected hip and bending over. I was able to bend forward about 45 degrees after a month. I was also off the walker and cane within six weeks. However, you need to follow your doc's guidelines. The advice here of deep coverage makes sense. I used rice straw and it absorbs the moisture pretty well. I'd get something like that for your time off while you heal.

 

[gtaus]

The deep litter method is actually an amazing way to keep chickens. If your in a cold environment especially because as the litter is tossed by your chickens and scratched up because of you putting treats etc in the coop the litter and bedding starts decomposing. As this happens naturally it gives off heat. I have use the deep litter method from the start and only had to clean out my coop to three times a year. And there was no smell in our coop.

More precisely, I am using deep bedding in my coop, which is mostly dry litter and not an active composting system. It does not generate much heat. The deep bedding is a great insulator, however. I have an elevated coop with linoleum covering over a wood floor. I could turn it into an active composting system inside the coop, but my goal is to reduce as much humidity as I can during the winter. Anyway, dry deep bedding is working for me.

Chickens are meant to be able to roost to put their feathers and body over their feet to keep warm.

Absolutely. This is why my roosting bars are 2X4's laid flat. The chickens will tuck their feet up into their bodies to keep them warm in the winter. No toes exposed when the weather gets cold outside.

 

[Sydney65]

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?

Sweet pdz is great, but dusty. Economically speaking, get the big bag for horse stall instead of container for chickens. I quit using it bc of the dust and switched
to hemp- I put on the floor and drop boards and even scoop up from floor to scatter on roosts to dry up yuck left on them. It's not cheap, but lasts a long time w/DLM. I use a large cat litter scoop to get the big clumps, and a rake to stir the floor bedding. No smell. There's even a cat scoop that telescopes on amazon that is shaped like a horse stall box rake.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CGDQ8Z...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
My coop has Royal rooster feeders to keep them from scratching feed everywhere, but I also have the homemade one w/inserts in a 5 gal bucket-they're great (mine is in a coffee cannister for an over wintering inside guest). The inserts are on Amazon also.
After spending money in stuff that didn't work well, I got this-
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/...mpaign=surfaces-across-google&utm_term=530022
and have absolutely no regrets. Stays clean, kicks on at 50° and holds 3 gal.
So my input is w/o a doubt more expensive. But well worth the peace of mind. No spray is going to hold the fort for any real length of time, whether chemical, essential oil or herbal w/o drying/removing or breaking down the poop. Hence, deep litter method. Stir it up, it absorbs the moisture, and the microbes in it break it down.
Good luck!

 

[aart]

Sweet pdz is great, but dusty.

Did you use the granulated or the powder?