How offen do you clean out the whole coop? I turn the shavings every day kind of rake out the top layer and add more shavings to keep it clean, but how offen are you supposed to clean the whole thing and what do you do with all those shavings I have about 5 or 6 inches in there
Coop cleaning
It depends on whether you are trying the "deep litter" method or not. I am trying it--you do what you are doing and clean it out all out once or twice a year. Supposedly you build up a whole ecosystem with bacteria and fungi that are breaking down the waste and shaving into compost and fly parasites that kill the fly larva. If you scatter scratch into the litter, the chickens help turn it by scratching looking for food. It comes highly recommended--but you can also clean it out monthly if that works better. Supposedly the "deep litter" method won't smell if you do it correctly--like a well managed compost pile. So far mine isn't smelly or attracting flies and I am about two months into it. I can say one thing, it doesn't work with rabbits!
We have a cement floor in our henhouse. We have been using straw, but I told DH we were going to start using shavings because we can get it easier. We have to travel to a larger town which is about 35 miles away to get wheat straw, and we can shavings about 16 miles away. With the price of gas, it is more feasible to get it closer to us. I also like shavings more than I like straw. We do use hay for the nesting boxes and our hens are so spoiled that they only lay in hay. Their egg production dropped way down when we tried to use shavings for the nests. Guess we spoiled them back when we first started and now we have to continue to do so.
We used shavings on newspaper for the younger ones, so they are comfortable with them on the floor. We usually clean about every three months or whenever the coop needs it. We put about 6 inches of straw down in the coop, and will probably use about the same measure when using shavings.
GG
Do you have a problem with ants? Here in TX we have a terrible problem with fire ants the only thing that kills them is this fire ant bait that you put on the mounds it looks just like chick starter so I know the chickens would eat it can't use it at all
This message was edited May 31, 2008 12:13 PM
No, no ants here. There are some, but they are not bothersome unless they start building a nest. Then we are able to use an ant killer, but I don't remember what it was. We haven't used it in a couple of years.
GG