[chelseablue]

hi everyone

some advice please

how often does everyone do a complete clean of their coop ie disinfection, new bedding etc

also someone suggested to me that we should adopt a deep litter system in the coop so you take out the worst then put fresh bedding on does anyone else do this and if so how often do you clean out, I have 12 hens in my coop so you can imagine they make a mess, would this not make the bottom of the coop damp and smell quite bad with the ammonia not sure I want to do this I would rather do a regular clean

any thoughts would be gratefully received

 

[Fenland Girl]

When we bought our hens the chap we bought them from suggested the deep-litter approach, he said the decomposing muck would help keep the house warm. We tried this but it just got horribly smelly and I think it was just making the birds ill (we have 4 hens). So I now scoop out the worst poo every couple of days, and completely clean out and change all bedding once a week or 10 days. I give it a really good scrub with Poultry Shield cleaning stuff every couple of months (less often in the winter as it takes so long to dry). From time to time I dust red mite powder around before I put fresh bedding in. I'm sure everyone has their prefered way of doing things but I hope this helps!

[GrannieAnnie]

With the deep litter method you just keep putting more straw on top, so then it shouldn't smell too bad and the chooks are not sitting on poo.  We take our poo out as often as we can, but we are using a bale of straw every 2 or 3 days, and it still gets very pooey and muddy with nearly 300 chooks running in and out of this rain!!!!

[jammy]

I only have two but I 'poo pick' everyday and top up shavings and straw as necessary when it gets a bit thin then once a month they have a complete clean out.  Probably not that helpful to you seeing as two chickens wouldnt poo half as much as twelve!!  :shock: