How much do you clean your coop out?

[johnworf]

We've had our 6 hybrids since last Friday. They are roughly between 8 - 10 weeks old. I have down bedding I bought from the breeder which looks like woodshavings. They seem to like it but there is quite a lot of poo in there each morning when I let them out. I've already cleaned them out yesterday and I'm thinking that by tomorrow, it'll want doing again. I don't want them sitting in their own poo!

I have a bag of aubiose on order and should be here soon. I'm figuring this should last longer than the shavings.

Is this about right or should I be doing something else?

I like my coop to be sparkly clean as I'm a bit weird so I 'pick out' the droppings each morning and redistribute the shavings. Only takes a minute or so and keeps me happy. I then clean it all out once a week and replace everything.

Thanks blackpuddingbertha. I've also spot cleaned the poop today and done as you have, redistributed the shavings. Glad I'm not the only one!

It all depends how anal you are about it, but obviously as you don't want it to start smelling noticeably, it will have to be done quite regularly in this heat.

In terms of bedding suppliers, I found that the best option was to buy a bale (1m x 0.5m x 0.5m or thereabouts) of woodshavings from the local sawmill. It costs £6, and contains a lot more than it looks like because it's all compacted. I've actually seen our local indy pet shop having the same stuff delivered, so that they can break it up into smaller bags and sell on at an enormous profit . Each bale has lasted a good 2 years with my 2/3 chickens!

I've been pleasantly surprised, having only had ducks before, who were absolutely filthy, to find that the chooks don't need cleaning out nearly as much. I was quite prepared for cleaning the whole lot every day as the way our houses are staggered the run has ended up quite close to my neighbour's patio doors and I didn't want to upset them! As it is, I've been poo-picking a bit each day and then having a proper clean about once a week and spraying some lavender scented mite killer inside their house and it hasn't been smelly at all. For some reason they seem to want to do most of their poos in the nesting box .

I'm finding poo in their nesting box too. Because of the hot weather and the bastard flies, I'm picking the poo out each day. Plus I'm paranoid about flystrike.

I'll probably take the whole coop apart at the weekend and disinfect it.

No poo in my nest boxes

Well, I read the other day that the perches have to be higher than the nest boxes to stop the chooks sleeping in them, but there's not much I can do about that now, dh bought me the coop for Christmas and he didn't realise either. The roof is too low for us to move the perches up. I assume they are pooing there because they are sleeping there and too lazy to move .

johnworf flystrike is normally only a problem if there is a load of poo stuck on the feathers around the cloaca, which there shouldn't be.

Pixel that's exactly it! Unfortunately after chickens became fashionable, a lot of companies with a hacksaw and some plywood got into building chicken coops, without knowing the first thing about chickens. It seems like you've got one of those :(

thanks boomting

Thankfully my perches are higher than the nesting boxes. I shall have to give my chooks a few pointers. Do you think a powerpoint presentation should do it?

Boomting it's this one, though dh says it was just under £50 at Christmas from the same company! It's not bad for the money and the chooks seem happy enough in there, I shall just have to put up with poo-picking their 'bed's every morning. Must say, the rest of the coop stays lovely and clean.

Hmm, I'm sure I didn't put that apostrophe there, was meant to be 'beds', although I have had wine!

I use newspaper in their roosting area and easibed on the floor of their coop. The newspaper is changed every day and the easibed about every 10 days. The run is swept daily and hosed down with disinfectant sprinkled on afterwards.