Keeping chickens is straightforward and easy, once you know what to do and what your feathered flock needs. But if you neglect a few very simple maintenance chores, a coop can get pretty messy pretty quickly. Read on for 10 Tips for keeping a clean chicken coop.
A clean chicken coop is good for both you and your birds. And if you live in an urban or suburban setting, a clean chicken coop is good for your neighbors, too. Cleaning out the coop can be such a dreaded chore though. Here’s some good news. With a few simple tweaks to your routine, you may be able to make your life a whole lot easier.
Here are a few tips and tricks which will allow you to go longer between each coop cleaning.
1. Ventilation
Arguably, the most important thing you can do to keep you and your chickens both healthy is to improve ventilation in the coop. If there is even a whiff of ammonia in your coop, you probably ought to increase ventilation.
Better ventilation means chicken droppings will dry out faster. Moisture breeds bacteria, bugs and disease. Try to increase the ventilation in several different areas. Just be careful if you live in a cold climate that the ventilation is not drafting where the chickens sleep at night.
2. Good Roofing
Solid roofing with no leaks is an absolute necessity for chicken coops. Along the same lines as having excellent ventilation, make sure excess water doesn’t come in to your coop in the first place. Even if your coop doesn’t have four walls, it should still have an excellent roof with a slight slope so that moisture can run off.
We recently switched to a metal roof on our coop, and I highly recommend metal for coop roofs. First, the metal is easy to install, easy to find at home improvement centers, and it does an excellent job keeping water out.
3. Droppings Board
Ok, so this is one of those very cool tricks you’ll be sad you didn’t think of sooner. This one little item helps keep the chicken coop far cleaner than it ever will be without it. What is a droppings board?
Think about this – where is the majority of the chicken poop produced? Underneath the roosts. One of the most efficient ways to manage chicken waste is to collect it before it hits the ground. By utilizing an easy to remove tray or board underneath their roosts, you can eliminate up to 80 percent of the mess in your coop.
You want to design the tray so that you can easily remove it and easily clean it. The best trays I’ve seen slide right out on a track and are light enough for anyone to carry. Whether you dump it into a wheelbarrow or have the compost pile nearby, make sure the cleaning part is easy too.
4. Deep Litter Method
The deep litter method is a process of using more bedding and therefore needing to clean out the chicken coop far less. This is by far the easiest method for the chicken keeper. The idea is that the ratio of absorbent material is higher and the waste dries out and decomposes more quickly. Rather than shoveling the poop from the coop, it sinks in and decomposes.
When used in conjunction with a droppings board, you won’t need to clean out the chicken coop for several seasons, if at all. Even without a droppings board, the bedding essentially slowly becomes compost. Genius.
5. Sloped Roof on the Nesting Boxes
Chickens need a safe and secure nesting box. This is first and foremost. If they feel safe in their boxes, they will be far less likely to lay on egg outside of the box, which could get crushed, go unseen, attract rodents, or worse. Use a wooden egg or a golf ball to increase the likelihood of your hens to always lay in their boxes.
It is important to have a sloping roof on the top of your boxes. This is super important, because it keeps other birds from perching atop the nest and leaving droppings on it which will not decompose. Or worse, the droppings could get into the nesting box. A well-designed nest box will not only keep your eggs safe, but will require no maintenance once established.
For that matter, make sure anything inside your coop or run has a sloping roof. This includes rabbit hutches, feeders, playhouses, etc.
6. Time Spent outside of the Coop
This one is both my and my hens’ favorite way to keep your chicken coop clean. Don’t keep your chickens inside all the time. If you can and your area is safe and fenced, your girls can live the majority of daylight hours outside of the coop. This is particularly ideal if you have pasture or some other type of lawn or field area for them to scratch.
When chickens are inside the coop all day, day after day, their poop is exponential and concentrated. What’s more, they become bored and peckish. Just be careful if you have very small bantams, or large hawks or other raptors. And always lock your hens in at night to protect them from nocturnal predators such as raccoons and opposums.
If you have a garden, make sure to read about a few ways to allow your chickens and your garden to peaceably coexist.
7. Windows
Birds need light through the winter months to keep up laying. As the light decreases, so does their productivity. A window will likely add a bit of warmth on cold days, provided it is on the sunny side of the coop. That light and warmth will help keep things drier after rain storms and keep your hens happy and occupied.
The windows will become dusty so wipe them down every so often to improve the amount of light and visibility. My hens love watching me approach their coop every morning, and they stay up on their roost until they see me coming.
8. Good Food and Watering System
A good feeder and waterer are critical to keep your birds healthy. They are super important for a clean coop too. First, you want to make sure the food is dry – otherwise it could ferment and spoil. Never let chickens eat spoiled or rotten food.
And you want the food to be well contained and not scattered on the floor. Contained feed is less likely to attract rodents. Water, too, should be maintained and contained. Any spilled water… well, same as what I mentioned before about leaks. Bacteria, mold, ammonia, etc. All bad for your hens!
9. The Right Tool for the Job come Cleanup Day
Make sure you invest in the correct tools to make preventative care and cleanup easier. Make sure you have the correct type of shovel for your coop. (actually, a flat-headed shovel is called a spade). You also want a good sized garden tub, bucket or wheelbarrow that makes sense for your property, large or small. And possibly a rake, too.
10. Preventative Maintenance
When we keep up with the seasonal tasks, the annual events are far less daunting. For example, fix any leaks you may find right away, before damage, must or mildew sets in. Address any broken eggs or soiled nest boxes. Stop up any rodent holes immediately.
By implementing just one or two of these strategies, hopefully you can significantly reduce the amount of coop cleaning, and maintain a more consistently happy and clean home for your birds. Your flock will no doubt be healthier, too.
