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Is sanitation possible?

3898 Views 17 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  cindy, 
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Keeping your chicken area sanitary? I love my chickens, but they are dirty creatures.
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piglett
i'm going with deep litter in my coop
6 or more inches of pine shavings will soak up a bunch of poop & smells too


take care
piglett
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A
Chickens are livestock their going to poop and make a mess. There is no way to have their area completely sanitary, but to minimize the mess use a good bedding that works for you and change it often. Also make sure the waterer and feeder are up off the ground.
Personally I use straw and when I change the bedding the used stuff goes into my compost pile.
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W
Is it bad enough to upset neighbors in an urban area?
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Roslyn
I only smell the coop if I'm on top of it. And chicken poo only really stinks when wet. I found out the roof had a leak when the coop was smelling off, once I got in there I found damp areas and they smelled. If you live in an urban setting, then I would be changing out the straw and shavings weekly or sooner, it all depended on how many chickens and how small a space. Just a few? then it won't smell too bad, it's not like a cow or horse. When they put down poo it smells even far away. Chickens have little poo and it breaks down with water VERY quickly.

Aaaaahhhh, everybody poos.
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weirdo said:
Is it bad enough to upset neighbors in an urban area?
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If you dont stay on top of the poop yes it will smell. If you let it go to long and you start smelling it from your house then you can bet the neighbors smell it. But really its super easy to change bedding .
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Keith
I'm building mine mobile with a removable floor so I can move it then pull out the floor and hose it down. We will see how it goes or if it becomes more trouble then worth.
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rob
i clean mine regularly and also pick up the dropping from the run. mine doesnt smell, it all go's into the compost bin. and its great for the veg garden.
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Jason
Keep in mind you're going for "clean" and not "sterile". It's not hard to stay on top of keeping the pen clean, but it does need to be done regularly, and you will definately know if you're a tad late with this one.
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Sundancers
Most days I am little more than an "critter waitress" ... LOL

You feed and water them and then have to clean up after that. :p But hey, it does wonders for the garden. (and you know where your food comes from. ;))
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kitz
I use sand on mine coop floor and use a shovel with slots in it. It is like a big litter box
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C
We have rubber stall mats with straw and shavings in the winter. The mat makes it real easy to shovel up. In the summer, not too much on the straw but shavings...then just scoop it up! We took ours straight to the garden instead of the compost pile and tilled in last fall....BAD IDEA. This year we have a great crop of corn (from the scratch that got scooped up) ALL OVER the garden...in the beets, zucchini, peas....Won't do that again.
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G
Keith said:
I'm building mine mobile with a removable floor so I can move it then pull out the floor and hose it down. We will see how it goes or if it becomes more trouble then worth.
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We used a roller pen a couple years for our fryers and it works great. they get feed from grass and in turn fertilize the fields.
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cindy
I used 4 tons of crushed limestone in my run area and leave dirt under the coop for the ladies
to bathe in it works great and there's 0 smell from my run or my coop.
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Sanitation

Cindy,
I would love more info on the crushed limestone. Do you then, scoop out poop ? What happens in rainy weather ?:)
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cindy
bonnie said:
Cindy,
I would love more info on the crushed limestone. Do you then, scoop out poop ? What happens in rainy weather ?:)
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the reason I added the crushed limestone was because the rain would
cause my run to be a stinky swamp you could smell it 100 feet or more away, I had unhappy neighbors. so I added the 4 tons which made the limestone 4 inches deep, I left the area under the coop dirt thats where the ladies do their dust bathing and enjoy the shade on hot days.
I dont scoop poop anymore because when we have thunderstorms/rain or heavy rain like we did last night it washes all the dropping down the 4 inches and into the dirt it's almost like a filtering system plus the limestone is good for my girls they still peck and get bugs in and on the stone the funny thing I have noticed is black beetles crawling in and on the stone and the ladies love em:) all I do is rake the stone out once or twice a month because my girls still like digging holes. I am 100% happy with the decision I made to cover the run in crushed lime stone. remember if you add it make sure its a minimum of 3 inches deep otherwise it wont do much good.also without rain the dropping that are on the stone dry up and don't smell.
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Cindy,
Thanks for the info. I love your coop and run area too. I see ( chairs ) how it can be a wonderful way to spend some relaxing time. So, when it rains, the poop gets wet and filters down, and, when it doesn't rain and the poop is dry, you just.....rake it in ? or do you rake it out ?
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cindy
I just rake it under the crushed stone and it ends up getting washed away:)
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