how often do you clean your coop?

[mama dixie]

I like to clean our coop once a week. I clean the water and food holders every day, and I scoop poop if I see it laying around. I free range my flock a lot so they poop outside a lot but they poop at night also. we have a horrid time getting them to roost on the bar in the back of the coop because it got wet this winter and I had to block them out of there. now it is dry and we are fixing the roof and so I want them to go back in the back but they don't want to use there nice roosting bars we made them. they always seem to roost on the old rabbit hutch we have in there for a broodie home, and I have the worst time cleaning it because it is roofing material so it is hard to clean. I scrape all the poo off I can and them I clean it with soap and water, but it gets all poo again.

my husband and I fight because I say the coop should be cleaned well and new straw should be put in one time a week he says it does not need to be that often. we have had problems with our birds getting sick in the past so I am a little over kill on trying to keep down as much as possible. what do you all think?

 

[bobbi-j]

Once a year.... maybe. Our coop has plenty of ventilation so it dries out quite well and doesn't get stinky.\\

ETA - Try researching Deep Litter Method.

 

[PartyOnARoost]

Well I usually clean it when it just gets to dirty, which is usually twice a week. Once a month I power wash it down

 

[Wallygator]

I agree with u mama Dixie I normally change the straw out every week but then I hose it out with pine sol once a month

 

[gstuartw]

Every Friday.

 

[mama dixie]

I will look into the deep liter method, our coop is a dog run outside play area and then the back side of the coop that they wont go into. I just like to give them fresh straw becuse the stuff they have gets so dirty looking. I dont know if it is really bad for them dirty or just looks that way. my husbend says as long as the water and food is clean that is the main thing. after having some get sick over our last say 5 years of raising them I figure an ounce of prevention is worth a lot. thank you all for the feed back. I have never power washed it as the floor is dirt, in the run part any way, I would love to make it concret so we can disinfect it but money is an issue as usual. I so hate being on such a budget. seems like a lot of us are though.

 

[janinepeters]

I scoop poop daily from the coop and runs, replace the shavings in the coop about 4 times a year, and add fresh hay to the runs every few weeks, as needed. Whenever I replace shavings I vacuum all surfaces in the coop with a shop vac. Nestboxes get fresh shavings as often as once week, depending on how much they are used (certain boxes get used more often than others). Waterers get washed with soap and water daily.

I tried deep litter for one year and hated it. The coop was way too dusty and stunk. People who do deep litter always brag that it doesn't smell, but when I visit their coops I gag from the smell and find it difficult to breathe with all the dust. I know chickens are prone to respiratory problems, so all that dust cannot be good. I think it's better to be clean the way you are doing it now - I am sure it doesn't stink and the air is fresh and mostly free of dust. Deep litter is an awful lot easier, though.

 

[donrae]

Once a year.... maybe. Our coop has plenty of ventilation so it dries out quite well and doesn't get stinky.\\

ETA - Try researching Deep Litter Method.

x2

If it needs it or not lol.

Come on over, mine's not stinky or dusty. And my birds are never sick or unthrifty.

 

[erinszoo]

We clean ours every few months. We have neighbors who like to whine and it's hard to not have chicken poop that smells when it's 108 degrees outside. We add new straw every few days when it gets to the place we don't want to walk in. They are great about turning it over and making compost out of it.

 

[wekiva bird]

Clean the roost area very few days, and the nest box.Oxine the outside area after rake it up, very two weeks put DE down. Major cleaning deep litter once a month in the summer .Winter months can go alittle longer.