Cleaning out the coop

[baymule]

I do the same thing. It sure is easier than being OCD about chicken poop. So what if there are piles of poop, just throw something over it and it will all be ok!

 

[CrealCritter]

I do the same thing. It sure is easier than being OCD about chicken poop. So what if there are piles of poop, just throw something over it and it will all be ok!

I was talking to my MIL & FIL tonight and told them changing out deep bedding is a once a year job. She was shocked... and told me my FIL changed out bedding once a week. I said well no wonder you guys don't want to raise chickens anymore. Once a week is OCD for sure, no way I could do that!!! Nor would I want to there's no logical sense in that. They sell barn lime and pitch forks for a reason

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you for the compost info I have wondered about doing that in my coop for years but everything I read argued against it. I thought it would come out like yours is so good to know am planning this for this year.

One thing to note....must have tons of ventilation, far beyond what is recommended per sq. footage. When asked, I always say plan huge ventilation that can be adjusted, on all levels of the coop.

During the warm months, the sides of the coop are wide open(tarps lifted like wings on either side of the coop), as is the front and back ventilation. In the colder months, half of the front door, front windows, the pop door under the roosts and also the back window is cracked open, as well as large cracks at all levels of the coop.

Also need good moisture in the mass(the greater concentration of DL under the roosts) in order for it to compost well. That goes against everything everyone will tell you to have in a coop, but with the right ventilation it all works out beautifully. The birds stay warm, it's a healthy microbial environment underfoot, compost is being produced and there are no smells nor flies all year round.

 

[CrealCritter]

You can come do mine next. Ive started bagging it when the ground has been just dry enough to get a wheelbarrow in. Mom has been begging me for bunch of bags. I took her some that she finally used last year. She had been sceptical until she finally tried a little bit in her pots.

Then she saw the results of my squash last year in the big raised planter that was a third chicken litter. Now she wants more

It's potent fertilizer for sure. I turn the deep bedding occasionally and add a layer of barn lime it makes for great fertilizer no joke.

 

[Hinotori]

My great grandmother who had an egg route up to the late 70s only cleaned out her coops once a year. 3 coops separated by age. 100 new hens each year. Big old chicken yards for each coop.

 

[sumi]

My DS had the TV on some kids channel the other day and I walked in to find a cute program on keeping animals, that day it was chickens. While I pottered around the room I listened to what they were saying about keeping chickens. They told the kids to clean the coop DAILY and replace the bedding every time. I burst out laughing. Seriously? I cannot see that lasting longer than 2 or 3 days, max.

 

[CrealCritter]

My DS had the TV on some kids channel the other day and I walked in to find a cute program on keeping animals, that day it was chickens. While I pottered around the room I listened to what they were saying about keeping chickens. They told the kids to clean the coop DAILY and replace the bedding every time. I burst out laughing. Seriously? I cannot see that lasting longer than 2 or 3 days, max.

Everyday? That's nuts expecially for a kid. How much you wanna bet that TV show was produced by someone who never had any kids or raised a chicken in their life?

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

WOW my flock of chickens, turkeys and ducks would be soo pissed if I changed them daily.

 

[Beekissed]

My coop has a cement floor. There was about 8" of deep bedding in there on top of the slab. We did run into a section that was frozen but it busted up easy enough with a pitch fork.

My first mistake as a newbie chicken guy was to put in a pipe with nipple waterers INSIDE the coop. Once I abandoned the inside nipple waterer for watering outside - things got a lot better. Ammonia smell is almost all gone now and humidity inside the coop is a lot better. It's taken almost 3 years to get the concrete slab dry... Chickens don't have cheeks and waste a lot of water when they try and drink from a over head nipple waterer. All that wet deep bedding was not a good combination at all.

I got the idea for inside nipple pipe waterer from BYC. Lots of positive talk about nipple waterers but no-one mentioned what a bad idea it is too have it inside the coop with deep bedding. Oh-well live and learn...

Here I am piping in rainwater so as to get my DL good and wet! I used to have an intentionally leaky coop and, man, did it produce the compost, but ever since I got this new, bigger tarp, I've no way of getting good moisture into my DL and the composting is much too slow.

Now I'm dumping buckets of water in the DL under the roosts and setting up a rain catchment system in order to pipe it into that area.

Could be you are just using the wrong bedding~wood shavings and sawdust produce a LOT of ammonia when wet and decomposing and take a long time~ but the nipple system would have been alright with different bedding, especially if you located it back where the manure is most deposited. A flip of dry bedding on top of the moist each morning and you are golden. Ever since I switched from the wood shavings I've not had one whiff of ammonia in the coop.

Another option for keeping it dryer would be to use the cup nipples...not much mess at all with those.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Thank you for the compost info I have wondered about doing that in my coop for years but everything I read argued against it. I thought it would come out like yours is so good to know am planning this for this year.