What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[hinterglem]

At the moment, my run is half bare earth and half grass. I probably should have thought about this before, but now I'm wondering how to keep it clean . We've had the girls 3 days and I haven't done any cleaning yet. How exactly do you clean out the poo? With a shovel? I've read on here and elsewhere about using wood chips as a substrate, but even then how do you keep that clean? Won't the poo stick to the chips and still create a mess? Or can you just rake it over or something? How often should the run be cleaned out?

[Egluntyne]

I use Aubiose ( My runs are all on paving slabs), a horse bedding, and I clear them all out approx monthly. The poo just absorbs into the Aubiose.

 

In the WIR, I poo pick the obvious ones daily.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I use Easibed (on bare earth) and it's great at staying clean. The poo just sits in clumps (which you can pick up) or magically disappears . I give it a good clean out every couple of months and put Stalosan F and garden lime down under the new bedding.

[squiffs]

I use woodchip, and I find the chooks tread it around and it disintegrates during the day with their digging, and then sprinkle biodri weekly, to disinfect

[The Dogmother]

I use Aubiose in a run which has some slabs underneath and some soil. I clear it all our every 6-8 weeks, sprinkle with BioDri or Ground Sanitising Powder then put new litter in. Takes about 20 minutes in all. The run is covered with a clear tarp to keep it dry but if the girls have been tracking wet in, I just sprinkle some more powdered disinfectant onto the litter.

[hinterglem]

Thanks for the tips. I've bought some corrugated plastic to make a roof, although I am finding it difficult to cut. I also bought some hardwood chips. I'll excavate a couple of inches of earth, lay some landscape fabric, then add the wood chips.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've tried cutting corrugated plastic - it just doesn't work, it splinters and splits all over the place .

 

You can buy different lengths, if that helps?

[Sam]

I cut mine a corner off mine the other day (odd shaped wir..!) and used a junior hacksaw blade. Quite tedious but works fine

 

[hinterglem]

I read that using a thin blade, sticking masking tape either side of the cutting line, as well as weighing down the sheet close to the cut to minimise vibrations can help to stop it cracking and splintering. Will try again when it stops raining for long enough!