Sooo much pooping

[Cat tails]

I was cleaning out the poop tray of my Go Up yesterday and noticed that some of the wood shavings were mouldy... The fluffy kind...

 

I have been keeping the door closed the last week, because the cheeky ladies were waking up earlier everytime. 5:30 did it for me...

Is the closed door? Is it the damp weather? Has anyone else had this before? Anything I can do to prevent it?

 

I don't really fancy the thought of my chickens sleeping in a coop that has mould in it. I normally change the wood shavings twice a week.

[cloud]

I went to put new Easichick in the coop yesterday and realise it was had little brown spots, which I assume is some fungal growth. The pack had been open a for a while with the top folded down in our dry outhouse. I've not seen that before. I'm wondering if it was the warm damp weather and that I'd by folding down (which I don't normally do) meant it had sweated. I opened a new pack and it was unaffected and noticeable paler in colour - I think the darker colour in the old open pack was meant it was damp, although it felt dry.

[Cat tails]

I was quite surprised by the mould.

 

I normally don't have a newspaper, but got a cheap offer for 4 weeks. So I've now lined the tray with newspaper. See how that goes and if it is better than mouldy wood shavings...

[Beantree]

Mould in a coop is very bad news Cat Tails. A first class ingredient for respiratory infection. I would change your bedding to something like dried aubiose or increase the ventilation. I'd also check the roof area for mould growth.

[Cat tails]

I changed to newspaper in the tray and only wood chips in the nest hollow. This does seem to be fine for now. I did check the rest of the Go and haven't found any more mould.

 

Like I said, I only started to close the pophole at night, because they were being too loud in the morning (waking up at 5:30 and starting begging to be let out...) Once the sun will rise a bit later again, I hope I can keep the pop hole open again.

 

Thanks for the advice though!

[Cat tails]

Ok, so I gave it a try this night. Leaving the pophole open. They woke up at 5:30...

I mean the problem is not me letting them out. But it is just too dark for them and they refuse to acknowledge. They are bumping into each other and muttering while doing it. It's like playing pin the tail on the donkey with three kids at once. Which on itself is hilarious! But they are producing almost the same level of noise as three kids that are not finding the donkey, but the behinds of the other kids... At 5:30 in the morning...

 

Maybe it's my porch light that is giving them false hope, but I think I'll need to keep the door closed for a few weeks longer. For now I have turned on the shed light, opened the door wide and put their much beloved grain down in the door opening. If I do it at their usual place, they just won't find it and come complaining to me.

[cloud]

We always keep the pop hole closed at night, and not had a problem with mould. Our case of mould in wood chip was from an unused but old and open pack. It might be worth changing the bedding in case the wood shavings are more prone to it, or perhaps already have the spores in them.

 

Another thought, is the Go Up near anything like a wall or fence that could either reduce ventilation or be a source of mould spores?

[Cat tails]

Good question but no it's in the middle of my (tiny) garden.

And also good suggestion! I think I might chuck the woodshavings. I keep them in my shed, which has been rather damp. (Even when I have the shed door open at all times...)