Morning Maid Service

Maybe I am a little OCD when it comes to cleaning the chicken coop.  Possibly the coop gets cleaned more often than the house does.  :)  I find that cleaning the coop in the morning is kind of therapeutic.  I just feel good doing it.  And I have done a ton of research to learn tips and tricks for making the daily cleaning easy to do. 

When I had my first coop 16 years ago, cleaning was my LEAST favorite part.  I hated it!  I procrastinated having to do it!  With just a few easy steps you can enjoy cleaning your coop too!

For me, sand is really the key to it all.  Each morning when I visit the coop I take a good look at all the girls to make sure they are all doing well and then I grab my trusty cat litter scoop and metal pie server and get to work.  I scoop the floor area to pick up any droppings and scoop the poop board.  All of the droppings are deposited in the poop bucket.  I use a little rake to sweep through the sand.  It is a little like having a sand zen garden.  :) 

Ok, I don't make fancy designs in the sand.  (Yet)

The clean coop

And a little peek at the cleaning supplies in my coop.

My husband made me a small shelf to hold my wipes, ACV, and a roll of paper towels.  I also have hooks for my duster, hand broom, litter scoop, and metal pie server.  On the wall I have a board to hold my small rake, my pitchfork, and my broom.  A little note here...the pitchfork and rake are always placed in the coop with the tines down.  Chickens can be clumsy and have a way of flying into things.  By keeping the tines down I reduce the risk of anyone getting injured.  I still have some painting to do as you can see.  :)  Any volunteers to come help?

Once a week I empty the poop bucket back in our tree line.  At some point I hope to have a composting area but for now this works fine.  Once a week I also use the duster to dust off the feed cans and surfaces in the chicken coop.  Coops have a way of being very dusty. 

I am also pretty meticulous about keeping the run clean.  I have another litter scoop and pie server by the run that I use to pick up droppings.  The pie server really is great for the run area where there is still some grass.

  I read a post yesterday where someone said that it is "wrong" to keep chickens if you have to keep them in a run.  :(  While I would LOVE to be able to let my small flock free range it just isn't possible where I live.  And I think my girls might disagree with the poster.  I work very hard to be sure that they have a wonderful safe home.  How do you feel about keeping chickens in a run?

The Poop Board

Maybe I AM getting old.  I mean, who gets excited about a poop board other than us "old" people?  :)

I truly wish I had a picture of my first chicken coop after a month of chicken poop and mess.  As I have said in other posts, for my first coop I used the deep litter method with straw.  And at that time I had the traditional "lean to" three rung roost set up.  I would go out once a month or so armed with a pitch fork and face mask and clean out matted and messed chunks of straw and "stuff".  It was a job I loathed!

The poop board in my new coop really makes clean up very easy.

Here is a look at the poop board this morning after a night of the girls roosting.

I know, my flock is pretty small right now so I don't have much of a mess.  But you can see how the poop board catches the droppings. I have my poop board just sprinkled with sand which makes cleaning much easier.  I use a metal cat litter scoop and a metal pie server to scoop up the mess.  All of the droppings are then kept in my poop bucket (not a very glamorous term I know) which is a Tidy Cat Litter Bucket that I have painted.  This re-purposed cat litter bucket really works great!  I love the lid on it.  It is easy to pop open with one hand and quickly close again. 

By the way, if you are keeping track, from left to right that is Layla, Gwhen (preening for the camera), Sophia, Oprah Orpington, Gilda, and Hazel (who still has a little sleep in her eyes).  Daphne isn't pictured because she spent the night in Sick Bay.  She is looking much better so maybe just one more night in Sick Bay will have her back to her old self.

This is about 5 days worth.  I also add droppings that I clean from the run area to this bucket.  If you look close (gross, I know) you can see some broccoli and the rind from some watermelon.  The girls LOVED the watermelon but wouldn't touch the broccoli.  I try to clean up any leftovers from treats so they don't attract flies or begin to smell in the run area.  

All cleaned and looking nice again!  The poop board truly is genius!!!

I have been a bit worried that maybe my board is a little high for my girls.  I wanted to be able to place the metal feed containers under the board to use that space so that dictated the height of the poop board.  And I may get my husband to help alter the roost a bit.  I have read that it is better to place the board on it's side or with the larger surface facing up.  This helps the chickens be able to fluff out over their feet in cold weather.  Anyone ever heard of this?  How do you have your roosts?

Thanks for dropping by Hummingbird Hollow today.