Two out of three coops got cleaned this morning. Three to clean is a heck of a lot better than six to clean, though the three empty ones are the three smallest ones.
Chicken Coop #1
The first coop is the smallest of the three that we’re currently using and it has the most chickens. Figure that one out! It’s also the easiest to clean and since it has 13 chickens, I end up cleaning it out about twice or maybe three times as often as the other two will have to be cleaned out. This one, I can stand outside that door and reach all the way in with a rake or hoe and clean it out.
Notice Nosie Rosie in the chicken door watching my every move.
For all the coops, I position a wheelbarrow up to the door, rake all the muck into the wheel barrow and haul it to where ever I’m putting it.
Coop #2
Coops #2 and #3 are nightmares for me to clean. I have to get in and out of them three or four times. It’s a pretty good climb for me to get into these and it’s so blasted nasty in there. Both these coops are about 14′ x 18′ and I can’t reach all the way across them with the rake so I have to get inside. Then I have to get inside to clean out inside the egg boxes. It’s just a lot of climbing in and out and I detest being inside those coops. I didn’t dare look up . . snakes, spiders, mice . . who knows! Just to give you an idea . . I took 1 wheelbarrow of muck out of the first coop and almost 4 wheelbarrows full out of the second coop.
By the time Coop #2 was clean, it was starting to get warm and it’s impossible to breath while wearing the dusk mask once it gets hot.
After a long, hot shower . . I feel clean again but wish I had been able to get the third coop done.
Chickens
The chickens are all out running around . . most completely unaware of the trouble I went through to clean their homes! It’s funny because both sets of these chickens have all the room to roam that they could possibly want and yet there are always a few of them hanging out at the fence trying to get into the others’ space. They’re funny creatures!
Theresa says
Note to self: make sure chicken coops are designed to be cleaned easily. See, we’re all learning from your experiences. If I was out there, I’d give you a hand in exchange for chicken manure for my compost.
JudyL says
There are definitely things you can do to make coop cleaning easier. One major thing, as Kim mentioned below, is cover the floor with some solid surface vinyl. When we built, we put that vinyl down, then built the walls on top of it so there were no edges the chickens could peck or pull up.
The thing that makes the big one hard to clean is the size. You should only have so many chickens per square feet and we had planned to raise more chickens in the two big coops so we made them larger, thus requiring me to get inside them to clean the far away side.
Also, we have open type construction (we didn’t close in all the 2×4’s) so those are areas I have to work to clean and it requires a little more than simply sweeping it out.
The big coops only need cleaning about twice a year because there are so few chickens in them. The smaller coop needs cleaning at least once a quarter but it’s probably been longer because it was just too hot to do it.
It isn’t hard but to do it right is time consuming . . it took me almost 2 hours to do 2 coops this morning . . probably 45 minutes on one and 1 hour, 15 minutes on the other one. That’s not a big price to pay for what we get from the chickens.
kim webb says
Thanks for the reminder to clean the coop. When my husband built mine, it had plywood floors.
After a few times trying to clean that, we went to one of the home improvement stores and bought a piece of leftover linoleum for the floor. Much, much easier to keep clean. Basically just needs sweeping now.
Love the hen peaking in to make sure your doing it right. Mine are right in there with me too making sure it’s up to their expectations.
Ranch Wife says
So when I am out there cleaning out my nasty, old, dilapidated chicken coop, I will be thankful that I only have one to clean! Alas, its a big one. I’m waiting for a bit of fall weather to tackle it. I haul hay from the barn (about 70 yards apart) in the wheelbarrow. Wears this old girl out. The things we do for our chickens!
JudyL says
One of the coops is right there close to the barn but the other two are out in the orchard so I know what you mean. I use pine shavings that we buy in a bag so I am able to haul the bag out to the coops and it usually takes about 1-1/2 bags for both the big coops so I get to do it twice. We used hay in MO and I prefer that but the alfalfa hay is downright expensive here.
Angie says
I haven’t kept up with your chickens. I do know you sold or gave away some. It sounds like you must still have a lot though if you have 3 chicken coops. We don’t have chickens, but all my growing up years we had chickens and the most we ever had was 10. My Nonna would never have more than that. She said 10 hens and one (very mean) rooster were all she needed for eggs for the whole family and her house boarders. Back then she had a 5 bedroom house with two boarders that worked in the mines. Every once in a while we had chicken stew to keep the flock numbers down to 10 good laying hens. I don’t know how you keep up with whatever size flock you have nowadays. That is a lot of work for sure. We had one very large coop and I remember helping clean. Nowadays that would child abuse! LOL! But, I didn’t seem to mind if she put up that mean rooster!
Teri says
Do you sell any of the eggs? With only the two of you I am wondering if you end up with a lot of eggs. How long will they keep?
JudyL says
Nope, don’t sell any. Now, I mostly have just enough for us and for a couple of neighbors.
Diane in CA says
Can you use a leaf blower to blast everything outside and then rake it up out there??
JudyL says
No! Some of the dust is so fine and I don’t want it all over the yard, plus, in most places, I’m up against a wall so I’d be blowing it all up into the air and more all over me. The best way to do it is rake it all out. It’s really easier to rake it than to try to sweep or blow it.
Rebecca in SoCal says
“Nosie Rosie”! Love it! Does this one have a good personality? Any favorites?