Silly Question-whats best to use for picking up poop?

[Peachy77]

Just trying to get a few bits together for our choocks arrival in 3 weeks. Just wondering whats best ot use for picking up poop. Would ge good to see all your suggestions. This forum is great with a world of information and advice. Thanks.

[daj198]

I use a rake, the soft plastic type used on lawns. I can then put it straight into the composter.

[Phosphorus]

Bucket and heavy duty rubber gloves and straight onto the composter. Oh and I have found a putty knife worth its weight in gold for s"Ooops, word censored!"ing poop from the roosting bars onto the droppings trays

[Egluntyne]

Gloves and a bucket.

[BeckyBoo]

Fingers. 'Fraid I just oik out little bits with my fingers. For a major clean I use a stiff wire scrubbing brush for the poo bars and I used to use a rake for the run. I don't wear gloves cos I'm a mucky pup and I don't like rubber gloves. In fact, I take some weird strange delight in mucking out the hens - doing a big clean I get about 5 wheelbarrows full of muck which then goes on my compost mountain, although a fair amount ends up on my trousers, my top, I get absolutely filthy. (I think it's my pseudo "living in the country on a farm" fix )

 

Now I feel like some weird "chicken-cleaning-aholic" at confession time!

 

Mrs Bertie

[jomaxsmith]

I've got a cat litter scoop that I use to pick up dollops from the lawn and patio and to s"Ooops, word censored!"e it off the bars into the poo tray. Sometimes I have to use an old bit of wood to flip the poo into the scoop otherwise I could just push it around the patio all day!

 

I use a spring tined rake to rake the bedding to the door of the run and a shallow, open dustpan to scoop it into a tubtrug to take to the compost bin.

 

It's a whole new world of gadgets, this chicken lark

 

Jo

[Mrs Webmuppet]

For my daily poop scoop I use one of Little Miss Webmuppets sea side buckets and shovels. The shovel is one of the flat wide sorts great for getting one of Bumbles super poos in ! and a seaside bucket to transport it to the compost bin. For the actual mucking out ( we have a traditional wooden coop and run - couldn't afford an eglu ) I use a kiddies dust pan and brush - the dust pan is just the right size to shovel everything into the recycling wheely bin ( my compost bin is almost full at the mo) and the little brush gets into all the nooks and crannies.

[my fat hen]

I'm the same as Mrs Webmuppet - I clean out the run and house daily using gloves and a bucket for just getting the poo out, and then use a dustpan and brush for getting bedding and spilt feed out when needed.

[lisa33]

I use a small spade and scoop it into a cut up milk carton. This then goes into compost bin or into bucket for my friends alotment.

[WitchHazel]

For poo on in the garden - I use a hosepipe with a jet spray gun and just wash it into the grass. Really quick and efective.

 

For other areas, I use disposable gloves and a small trug, then tip it into the compost bin.

[HENthusiastic]

For my daily poo collections I use rubber gloves for picking poos from in the house and off the gravel and a wooden spatcular form s"Ooops, word censored!"ing off patio and roof of house. All goes in a bucket to be collected by an allotment holder I contacted via freecycle!

For a weekly clean I use a metal dustpan and brush, all goes either in the compost (when theres room) or the wheelie bin.

[chelsea]

I poo pick daily

 

I use a small garden trowel, an old bucket and a dustpan and brush always handy for some sweeping of hemcore

 

You could colour co-ordinate your bucket with your eglu/cube and get a tubtrug (I have purple) but dont use it to collect poo as I dont want to get it dirty!!

[*mummy_hen*]

I went hen shopping over the weekend and have bought myself a specially designed shovel thing

 

Before though, i was using a dustpan and then an old garden trowl to flick in.

[Chuckov]

I use a wire rake and just sort of rake it over, thinking of how we used to scarify the paddocks and then sprinkle poo over when we used to have the horses to keep the grass coming through nice and green!

 

There is nothing harmful in chicken poo, you feed them so you know what's gone in.

 

For more stubborn poos, I get a little trowel and flick it onto the soil areas.

[Helly Welly]

The path gets hosed down and swept.

 

As for the grass, i gets left to Mother Nature. At the most, it gets hosed.

 

The cube gets jet washed

[frenchlayer]

I use a bucket, and spade for daily quick collections and I used stiff brush and dustpan for the first main clear out I did.

 

Mrs Bertie. When you say you get 5 wheelbarrows full, is that because you clear the run completely as well. I haven't had to do that yet. I still have some grass left !! Which is a miracle after nearly 4 weeks.

 

I will need to read up the threads on bark soon I think.

[SLK69]

How weird I was just in the garden today doing my 'walk of shame' with trug and paint s"Ooops, word censored!"er and wondered what other people did - I am getting pretty deft with the flicking of the poop into the tilted trug from the ground. Then straight into composter.

 

Green trug, metal black handled s"Ooops, word censored!"er - all clashes with my purple cube lovely

 

Is it just me, or - does any one else's chooks walk behind them as they pick up poop - I swear they save it up till they see me and walk behind me pooping the bit I have just cleared - doncha just love yer chooks?

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I bought a 49p "dry food scoop" from Morrisons which is brilliant for flicking poop off the patio and grass into the flowerbeds.

 

Be careful though, over-enthusiasm resulted in some attractive new harling on the wall of the house at the w/e .

 

For the roosting bars, I use a brush from Halfords (designed for alloy wheels I think). Fits between the bars really well for scrubbing.