by Donna McGlasson from Gardens & Chickens & Worms
Cleaning the coop is probably the most dreaded chore we as chicken keepers must perform but also the most important. Why? Keeping the coop and run environment clean is the best way to prevent disease in your flock. What process should you use? What makes this chore easier? What works for you?
Cleaning the coop is probably the most dreaded chore we as chicken keepers must perform but also the most important. Why? Keeping the coop and run environment clean is the best way to prevent disease in your flock. What process should you use? What makes this chore easier? What works for you?
Depending on your particular situation, keeping your coop and run area clean may be easier or harder. If it’s hard for you already think about ways to make it easier.
- · Daily cleaning
- · Poop boards
Poop boards in my original coop - · Raking the run (if you have one)
- · Using a chemical free cleaner
Daily cleaning isn’t always easy but if you can do a little work ahead of time you can make daily cleaning quicker, easier and more convenient. Buy the hand shovels, kitty litter scoops, buckets, brushes and spray bottles ahead of time. I’m not referring to a spring or fall scrub down cleaning, this is just daily maintenance.
 |
| Poop board covered in linoleum for easier cleaning |
Put in poop boards. Under your flock’s nighttime roost, poop builds up. If you can put in a board at least 4-12” below the roost, (plywood works great) it can be scraped daily with a shovel or kitty litter scoop. I have also covered my poop board and the whole bottom of the coop in linoleum for easier scraping. This also provides the opportunity for you to make sure everyone’s poop looks normal. Many times a chicken’s poop is the best indication that something is wrong with one or more of your flock. I use a bucket, a kitty litter scoop with the back covered in ¼” hardware cloth which is zip-tied to it and I just scrape out the poop.
 |
| This is my poop bucket and kitty litter ‘shovels” I use to clean the poop boards under the roosts |
It doesn’t hurt to spray a mist of some kind of disinfectant after scooping and it also keep down the fly population. Short of using chemicals like bleach, what can you use? Mix apple cider vinegar and water, put it in a spray bottle
 |
| My handy ACV spray bottle |
and finely mist your poop boards when you are finished scraping them and the rest of the coop for good measure. I use a tablespoon of vinegar to every gallon of water but give or take a little doesn’t hurt anything. You can also use vanilla to keep down flies by hanging cheap dollar store car air freshners out of reach of your flock. Flies hate vanilla (read more about that here).
In addition, I recommend painting every surface of a home built coop especially if you use plywood as we did with our original coop. It keeps down the mites because they have no where to burrow into bare wood. If you bought a coop kit and built it, you may not need to paint it or it may come already painted. I also keep a plastic wash tub , a brush and a gallon plastic bottle of ACV near my water spigot for quick clean ups of feeders and waterers.
 |
| My plastic wash tub near the water spigot |
Finally, if you have an enclosed run, as I do and your flock is either confined all the time or part of the time. Raking or scooping out the poop is really
 |
| This is a child’s garden rake I use for raking my runs |
better for your flock. I have a child’s toy rake that is smaller than a garden rake and it helps me get in tight spots better around the coop. It also has ¼” hardware cloth attached to the back to aid in raking process. I generally sift with the rake and put all the poop in the bucket to go in my compost pile by my vegetable garden.
We all love our chickens but regardless if your chickens are enclosed in a run or you have a free range flock, there’s chicken poop to clean up somewhere. So why not make it easier on yourself with tools that make this chore a lot easier.
7 Comments
If you have a dirt floor in your coop can you put down pea gravel under roosts and hose down that area? Thank you for all the informative articles.
My husband thought up the best way to clean overnight chicken droppings. We bought rolls of ” rosin painters paper” at the big box store..” I roll out a section every evening under their roost and it catches the droppings and I roll it up every morning and throw it away. Takes about 2 minutes! I’m done with trying to scoop up droppings.
This has made my life so much easier!
Does the sand freeze up in cold weather though? I live in northern Illinois, and we had -20 days here this past winter. I want to use sand but my husband refuses saying it will be too cold and freeze their feet. What can you tell me about that?
Sand sounds likes great idea
Daily maintenance is always the best (for anything in life) but these tips make it easy.
one addition i’d make to the above article, i have about 4″ of sand in my coops. it dries the poop faster and makes it much easier to pick up. also, my nesting boxes stay so much cleaner because the sand helps to remove any dirt and debris from the hens feet before they nest. my hens are outside free ranging all day and only come in the coop to eat, drink, lay, and sleep.
Such great ideas! My hubby and I are preparing to get some chickens and will be building the coop soon. Thanks for these great tips!