Hosing down patio EVERYDAY! So much Poop.

[serenityNH]

Please share your pain, I know I'm not the only one hosing down the patio everyday! The girls share our back yard which includes our brick patio with our nice patio furniture. I knew they pooped a lot but it's hard to actually prepare for just how much poop and that they poop everywhere! It's just a bit embarrassing when friends and neighbors unexpectedly stop over and of course come through the back gate where all the poop is. "Oh, sorry, please watch where you step I haven't cleaned up yet today ( actually I already hosed the patio down this morning but I won't tell them that!) I have to ask them to please step aside while I spray down all the poop before they sit and have that cup of coffee. Oh and please check the cushion before you sit.... Ahh, life with chickens! Who knew...

 

[justbugged]

Okay, as much as I like to say that the girls free range it isn't every day. It's okay to limit the chickens range in a day.

 

[gryeyes]

I actually have a sign on my gate: Chicken Country. Watch your step!

It's my "you've been warned" way of dealing with it, so I don't have to make up anything like "haven't cleaned up after the chickens since yesterday."

 

[serenityNH]

Quote:
That's a fantastic idea! I've got to make or get a sign like that

 

[donrae]

And that's why we just built a run to contain the girls and boys. Wet chicken poo on the porch is slicker than snot and nasty when tracked in the house.

 

[Gladys Rabbit]

We built a fence with a gate to separate the patio from the rest of the yard.

 

[wyododge]

Try cleaning the poop off when the chickens are on the patio. There is not much more a chicken hates then a good soaking with the hose. You could even get one of those motion detector sprinkler things that spray when they walk up. Not near as much fun though.

 

[LegginMF12]

Quote:
That's how we broke ours. I had a total of 12 chickens that just insisted on hanging out on the front porch. I got tired of it and just started going out grabbing the hose and spraying them. The tend to stay off of the porch now, matter of fact all you have to do is walk in the direction of the hose bib and they head to the other side of the house!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

We have a deck that our free range chickens (ahem, escapees and those in quarantine) try to visit.

Every time I see a chicken out there I run out the door and say, "Shoo, shoo, shoo" in a singsong voice, with arms open wide, making sweeping motions. They are familiar with this command as I use it to get them to move away from the gate before I open it. They immediately clear out.

They are trainable. It really helps and I don't have poo on my deck.

This is labor intensive though. But they know that the deck is MY territory.

 

[SueBaby]

Our 7 free range in the afternoons/evenings when we are home, which is about 4-5 days a week. We do our best to shoo them off the patio whenever they come over, but they don't seem to be "learning" that they shouldn't do this. I'm not sure what the fascination is, but they seem to come on the patio whenever we turn our backs (or sit down to dinner). I don't have a big problem with their regular poops that are dry and can easily be removed. Frankly it's the Brown Stinkers and Black Stickies that get me most upset.

Maybe it's Hose Time!