current set up too much work -advice for new coop?

[Tracyree]

We will be getting a new coop in the spring and I'm torn about going BIG or downsizing. My current coop has a 4x8 interior, a 8x10 cover pen with deck floor, a large fully enclosed run and access to pasture with electric poultry netting. I like the set up, but it's a lot of work. We were planning on making the new on 8x8 inside, which I still think is perfect, but I'm reconsidering the covered pen with deck although I love that feature. It's a great place for feeders and hanging out in bad weather.

My issue is with scooping out all those pine shavings every few months. I have poop boards under roosts and the interior stays pretty clean except for spider webs and feathers. But I still scoop the shavings every few months just because I like it nice and fresh. The pen shavings get wet and nasty, so need regular cleaning.

Should I downsize to a raised coop instead of walk in? Something with pull out droppings boards?

Here's what I currently have:

 

[ccrow]

My coop is a walk-in, 8'x5' in a pen that is roughly 16' square. We put the coop on posts so the chickens have the area under it as well. When I change out the shavings, I first clean out the coop, then scoop the shavings out of the nest boxes to reuse on the floor(unless, as is currently the case, one is being used as a roost, when I scoop that out onto the floor with the old shavings to be taken out). Sometimes I throw the shavings out in back of the pen, sometimes I throw them in the pen so the chickens can scratch through them and they can add to the dirt floor. I don't have a poop board, but in the morning I scoop up the night's droppings with a kiddie rake and a big metal dustpan. I also like having a nice clean coop

I don't really think of it as a big job... I don't know how I'd make it less work, anyway. Maybe sand would be less work, I don't know, never tried it. I'm not sure how well it would work for me in the winter, as the chickens tend to crash into the waterer getting off the roost, and spill some; I think they'd create a stalagmite!

 

[morris p]

I'm a little new to chickens but it didn't take me long to get exhausted with upkeep. I like the idea of the boards under the roost to just scrape poop off... I need to make something like that. As for the interior, I found cleaning to be 10 times easier when I converted the floor bedding to river sand. Every so often I walk through with an extra long kitty litter scooper and pick up clumps.

 

[aart]

Maybe you're making more work for yourself than needed?.....or chickens are not really for you?
I can't imagine going from walk in to raised coop would make things easier at all.

I use poop boards and sift them every 2-3 days, poops go in bucket then to friends compost....
......shavings on floor only get changed out 1-2 times a year, very dry and darn near odorless(going to my compost and I have to soak them with water to get them cooking).

I would make that whole structure under the roof a coop...run looks great, wouldn't try to 'clean' it.

 

[Folly's place]

My coop is bedded deep with shavings, and cleaned out two or three times each year. No poop boards or sand, no daily scooping. It's a miserable one or two hours shoveling it out, either into the manure spreader (YES!!!) or the garden directly. Could you get help doing that cleanout? When the waterers and ventilation are set up properly, there shouldn't be a wet soggy mess. Mary

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I also clean out every couple of months, takes 15-20 minutes, I guess I don't understand how it's too much work, I have multiple pens way bigger than you, and I enjoy a good cleaning, chickens poop everywhere, there's no simple way of keeping it clean, a bigger coop means more shoveling, maybe you need less chickens. I am a farm girl, so we learn to shovel poop at a young age.

 

[Elaine Wright]

I stir the wood chips,scrap the roosting rods every other day. It takes 5 minutes. I clean foreign material from the nesting boxes when I gather eggs - 1 minute for all 6 boxes. This fall, I'll remove the wood chips, scrap what needs it, remove the tarp, (make some coop modifications, re-tarp, re-chip. I'll be surprised if it takes 2 hours. Do it again in the spring.

 

[jimbob86]

I grew up shovelling out chicken coops spring and fall ....... and hated it. That is one of the reasons I opted for the chicken tractor route ........ and move it every morning. I have to clean the screens under the roosts with a hoe, but I don't shovel- I never allow anything to accumulate.

 

[Elaine Wright]

That's the reason for a tarp. Bring in the corners- out the door.

 

[csaylorchickens]

I used washed and strained plaster sand in the coop on the poop board as well as down underneath the coop and in the middle run. I just use a kitty litter scoop daily for five min and about every three months throw some more sand down with some sevin dust and de dust. The girls use the small pebbles in the sand for grit, I have zero smell since the sand keeps it nice, they dust bathe in it too. Pine shavings I find more bugs and problems than the sand. Less flies too