How to Efficiently Clean Poop

[aBirdNerd]

I was wondering how I can clean the chicken coop efficiently; I have wood shavings for bedding. Any suggestions?

 

[David61]

Ugh, clean it off of/ out of what? Coop? Run? Nest box? Open run? Covered run? Are your wood shavings wet? How long have they been down and on what kind of floor? How many inches deep are they? How many birds are using them on how big a floor space.
All these things will determine the answers you seek.

 

[aBirdNerd]

Clean out of coop
No, they aren't wet
Wooden floor with pine shavings
They (shavings) are about 3 1/2 inches deep
5 chickens and a roo on a 3ft floor space

 

[David61]

Cool, thanks. I would muck it out every three months and go with new shavings. I would buy some cheep vinyl flooring and put down. Lowe close out old or short pieces. Cheep. Like $0.54 a foot. That's less than $10. My dirt floor is 14x6 and I add shaving once a month as needed.
First I rake it to one end. Then I dump the pine shavings out of the nest boxes on the floor. Its mostly clean shaving out of the nests. Then add new to the nest boxes and some new shavings to the floor. Now I use a poop board under the roost as 70% of all poop happens When asleep on the roost. This may be where you need to address effectively in poop cleaning.
Poop boards need sand and PZD stall freshener like a cat box.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Poop board and scoop every morning. We are using coffee grounds right now and I scoop every morning. You could also use sweet pdz.

 

[aart]

I was wondering how I can clean the chicken coop efficiently; I have wood shavings for bedding. Any suggestions?

How big is your coop, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help here.
Also, how many birds do you have?

What kind of bedding you use may depend on how you manage the manure.
This is about cleaning, but covers my big picture
-I use poop boards under roosts with thin(<1/2") layer of sand/PDZ mix, sifted daily(takes 5-10mins) into bucket going to friends compost.
-Scrape big or wet poops off roost and ramps as needed.
-Pine shavings on coop floor, add some occasionally, totally changed out once or twice a year, old shavings added to run.
- My runs have semi-deep litter(cold composting), never clean anything out, just add smaller dry materials on occasion, add larger wood chippings as needed.
Aged ramial wood chippings are best IMO.
-Nests are bedded with straw, add some occasionally, change out if needed(broken egg).
There is no odor, unless a fresh cecal has been dropped and when I open the bucket to add more poop.

That's how I keep it 'clean', have not found any reason to clean 'deeper' in 5 years.

 

[ABinSF]

I was wondering how I can clean the chicken coop efficiently; I have wood shavings for bedding. Any suggestions?

I am wondering the same thing- and how often. I have been raking out about 1/4 of the bedding every weekend (trying to get the poops but definitely missing some) and replacing the bedding with fresh. One article I read said replace all bedding every week and wash out the coop. Another said the bedding should last six months before needing to be replaced.

 

[David61]

I am wondering the same thing- and how often. I have been raking out about 1/4 of the bedding every weekend (trying to get the poops but definitely missing some) and replacing the bedding with fresh. One article I read said replace all bedding every week and wash out the coop. Another said the bedding should last six months before needing to be replaced.

Yea, its going to be different as your set up and birds differ.
My poop board is four foot by five foot three". I don't have to clean it but every forth day. My floor is 14x6 so adding a few shavings can hold me for three months. I can tell by looking now when and what needs doing.

 

[Mamatomany123]

I am wondering the same thing- and how often. I have been raking out about 1/4 of the bedding every weekend (trying to get the poops but definitely missing some) and replacing the bedding with fresh. One article I read said replace all bedding every week and wash out the coop. Another said the bedding should last six months before needing to be replaced.

This will depend on a lot of things. Size of your coop, how many chickens you have in there, ventilation (you never want smell).

 

[3KillerBs]

One article I read said replace all bedding every week and wash out the coop.

Wetting the coop is almost never a good idea. Chickens may choose to come and go in the rain, but their housing needs to stay dry.

The cleaning interval is an interaction between how many chickens you have, what they're eating, how much bedding you use, what type of bedding it is, the size and ventilation in the coop,how much time the chickens spend in the coop, and your climate.

Using deep bedding and one more chicken than the size of the coop really supported my cleaning interval for the in-town chickens ranged from once every 4 weeks to once every 12 weeks.