Cleaning the volaille hencoop is one of my least favorite chores . The distain I feel encompasses all of life ’s task , not just crybaby ones . I think we can all agree that chicken poop is pretty gross . Ideally , we should visit the coop every day with purpose beyond gathering eggs — to bump off the contaminating bedclothes and replace it with a act of fresh bedding .
This meter of year , it ’s especially wanton to overlook the coop if the hens have blockade laying egg for the winter season . Now that the days are nearly at their curt , wimp spend up to 15 dark hours per Clarence Shepard Day Jr. inside the coop , depending on your location . When temperatures are very cold during day hour , their time in the coop can be nearly 24 hours .
In my early days as a chicken keeper , I did n’t have a spry and in force direction to pick out my chicken coop . Each week I would put on my caoutchouc chicken baseball glove and remove bedding handful by handful into a wheelbarrow . The work was passably cathartic , but I crave more aloofness between my hands and the poo .
One day , my kitchen broom broke , and when I brought another house from the computer storage , the spare dustpanful became my young Gallus gallus coop scoop . I could n’t believe I had n’t think of it before !
While I still don the glove , scoop out out all the dirty bed once a week takes just a few minutes . All that slack me down now is the chicken ’ sake in my hum .
Curious Helpers
poulet are very curious creature . Like me , they get bore when everything is the same . When something new happens , they want to be correct in the thick of it . cluck and gossiping amongst themselves , they usually follow whoever is their loss leader . My Speckled Sussex lean to lead the pullets , while my older girl follow the Australorp , that is , if they can be troubled . The elderly hens are much less likely to do what the others are doing .
In the video , you could see the excitement I make by removing the old bedding material . Once I put in clean bedding , the side doorway has to be put back on immediately or else they ’ll kick most of it back out .
Upkeep Vs. Deep Cleaning
you’re able to also see that my coop is due for a deep cleaning ( and a pigment job ) , but I ’m holding out for the 52 - degree day forecasted for Sunday . I do n’t scrub the coop out as often as I should , but I do put in more effort in keeping the bedding clean . In my henhouse , I use small , soft Poplar shaving , sourced regionally in my DoS . Because I have a mobile ark coop , I ca n’t simply skim out dirty litter , which is why I use forest shavings . Straw is unmanageable to remove with my handy dustpan .
Why Not Go Deep?
The deep - litter bedding method is popular during the winter month for many chicken steward , but my coop is n’t deep enough to attempt it . It ’s not a sustenance - free method acting , either . While the method generates heat inside the hencoop as manure and bedding break down , it ’s not without risks .
If you raise any lumbering breeds , like the Wyandotte , these strain are more susceptible to foot injuries because of their weightiness . The deep - litter method harbors bacteria , so an injured razzing can develop Bumblefoot if the bedding is n’t by rights maintained . Keep that in mind when determining what kind of bedding and methods are right for your particular raft and hencoop .
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