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Barnyard Buddies:  Ho often do you clean your chicken coop?  |
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Sweet Harvest Homestead
True Blue Farmgirl
279 Posts
Lindy
Stanfield
NC
USA
279 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 23 2007 : 09:18:29 AM
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Hi Ladies,
I am still pretty new to keeping chickens. We have a 12x12 chicken tractor with a smaller area that is covered inside of it with nesting boxes. I let the chickens out every day to run around the land but I was wondering, how often do I need to clean the coop? I have 6 chickens and they all poop in one nesting box as well as all over the floor area where they have their covered area. They don't seem to do it as much on the ground where they have plenty of room down on the ground of the chicken tractor.
I want to clean it out at least every two weeks but I have read that some people only clean out theirs twice a year.
Any suggestions?
Thanks a lot.
Lindy
www.sweetharvesthomestead.typepad.com |
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EmmJay
True Blue Farmgirl
352 Posts
Mary Jane
Amherst
Nova Scotia
Canada
352 Posts |
Posted - Jan 23 2007 : 10:10:16 AM
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My suggestion would be to do what you are comfortable with. If that means once every two weeks, then so be it.
I try to clean up after my girls at least once every two weeks, but there are times when that gets delayed. While cleaning or collecting eggs, I will talk to them. They seem to love it, and none of my girls are frigid. They will come to me, especially when I ask if anyone wants a treat. They ALL know what that means 
"Thank GOD I'm a country girl"
http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/EmmJay07/ |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jan 23 2007 : 10:17:00 AM
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I have to admit that I clean mine less often in winter..but the other three seasons I do it (or the kids do) about every 2 weeks..more when they are molting.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Sweet Harvest Homestead
True Blue Farmgirl
279 Posts
Lindy
Stanfield
NC
USA
279 Posts |
Posted - Jan 23 2007 : 11:27:38 AM
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Okay,
Great. I am glad that I am not some kind of barn yard clean nut then. LOL!
You know, I have been talking to our girls too and they let me pet them and they coo. Very sweet. Now what I am going to do when it comes time to eat them? It is going to be tough to eat something that coos at you. Guess that will toughen me up some.
Lindy
www.sweetharvesthomestead.typepad.com |
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GaiasRose
True Blue Farmgirl
2552 Posts
Tasha-Rose
St. Paul
Minnesota
2552 Posts |
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LadyCrystal
True Blue Farmgirl
593 Posts
Alicia
Rhode Island
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - Jan 23 2007 : 6:36:38 PM
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I think the difference of people who clean twice a year is they are in an enclosed coop. They don't get moved around every day or so. We clean our coops twice a year.The bedding breaks down two a fine powder that as long as it is kept dry, it will not get stinky. We also sprinkle DE in the bedding about once amonth to help with mites.The nest boxes are a different story. If you are collecting eggs you don't want them full of poop. Those we clean out every two weeks or so. Depending on how may hens are using the box.
Alicia
http://fromcitytocountrygirl.blogspot.com/
follow your dreams |
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Horseyrider
True Blue Farmgirl
1045 Posts
Mary Ann
Illinois
1045 Posts |
Posted - Jan 24 2007 : 05:05:39 AM
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I used to be a spring and fall girl. We had cement floors and one large communal nestbox for about twenty hens. I'd use straw in the spring and in the nestbox, and add straw or clean the nestbox as needed. The rest of it would get stripped out and put on the garden when the garden was done in the fall. All the leaves I could rake would be their litter over winter (sometimes hiding chickens until it got the fluff out of the leaves) and in the earliest spring it would go on the garden too, tilling it in as soon as I could work the ground. I never did any other fertilizing on those beds, and we had great produce. If I remember right though, I didn't grow potatoes on that ground because they got scab or something--- I don't remember, it's been many years. I don't remember any stink, either.
I really liked the leaf litter better than the straw. It was garden dynamite! |
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windypines
True Blue Farmgirl
4547 Posts
Michele
Bruce
Wisconsin
USA
4547 Posts |
Posted - Jan 24 2007 : 05:29:08 AM
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| Oh gosh, I clean my coop as often as necessary. Once a week, what ever. If it is dirty and yucky it needs to be cleaned. Right now I have too many chickens, the old hens did not get butchered this year. I wish I could get rid of them, but noone wants them. I use sawdust if I have it otherwise, hay or straw, whatever I have. Michele |
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Barnyard Buddies: Ho often do you clean your chicken coop? |
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Ho often do you clean your chicken coop?
