Cleaning out the coop

[milkmansdaughter]

Mine got too wet in the last few days (more than 8 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks, and my coop is now wet, wet, wet...) Thanks for posting this @Beekissed! I was going to clean it out wet, but I'll go get something dry to mix in and keep it composting for a bit first!

 

[Beekissed]

Mine got too wet in the last few days (more than 8 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks, and my coop is now wet, wet, wet...) Thanks for posting this @Beekissed! I was going to clean it out wet, but I'll go get something dry to mix in and keep it composting for a bit first!

Here's a tip...don't mix it in. You'll only lose the benefit of the dry bedding. Just lay a layer of 4-8 in. on top of your wet and cap off that moisture. Good things will happen underneath and you'll eventually build your litter so deep that the excess moisture will start wicking towards the bottom layers and the top will stay reasonably dry.

If you have an exposed run, you can go with more sturdy materials like wood chips, woody stems of plants, corn stalks(those provide GREAT air spaces in the mix), small branches, bark, etc. that will help build a base that allows the moisture to work into the bottom layers more easily, leaving the top merely damp and helps it dry off easily.

 

[CrealCritter]

A few years ago I had over 100 chickens and a fairly large coop, so you can imagine the cleaning…. Someone we knew in the area wanted some chicken droppings for his garden, so he came and asked me if he can have some? I said sure, we can spare some! He'll just have to wait until I get round to shovelling it. He said no, he'll bring one of his workers to come collect it for him. A day or two later he came with a worker who cleaned out the coop for me, he took away all the droppings and PAID me for it Talk about "Thank you! Come again!"

Some people have all the luck!

 

[sumi]

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?

Exactly right! That's why I laughed when I heard it. They clearly have no experience in (probably) either!

 

[sumi]

Mine would be very, very confused!

 

[CrealCritter]

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

I was thinking the same thing... My layers would be upset and might not lay for days afterwards. I try and not do anything that's "invasive" to often.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Yea wow someone needs to send that show an email explaining the issues with what they are teaching our kiddos.

 

[sumi]

Yea wow someone needs to send that show an email explaining the issues with what they are teaching our kiddos.

I don't think they really care… Or they would've done their research properly. But fear not, I don't think anyone's going to be that serious about coop cleaning after the first few days!

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

My flock likes digging around in the DL to find all of the goodies

 

[CrealCritter]

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.

Wood shop saw dust and wood shaving and hay is all I have an abundance of for free. So it's wood shaving, saw dust and hay is what they get.

What kind of bedding do you use?