Backyard Chickens - Cleaning out the Coop
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2013
- No false advertising here. In this video I will show you how I clean out my low maintenance chicken coop. Oh, and at the urging of my youtube viewers, I do wear a mask now :-) Also, as shown in my other video, I now have a bin to collect the droppings which get added to my garden.
- Наука та технологія
Your chicken coop is the best design for easy cleaning I have ever seen.
I have a different version based on your idea. I lay a woven polypropylene sheet cut to fit the coop. I then cover with shavings. When I clean out, I gather the sheet up and dispose of the soiled bedding. No raking, no inhaling sawdust, chicken poop and skin scales. To be really hygienic, two sheets, one to use and one washed and hung out to dry. Nice to see a clean coop.u
You may have learned this already - but Chicken eggs are the most store-able food on the planet - you can leave them in the coop for up to a week before you have to question it's edibility in the summer and like 3 weeks in the winter...and the float test will always be accurate. My chickens have laid eggs and I have found them 2 weeks later (they are free range on a farm), floated them and they were fine. They are covered in a thin layer of "mucus" that keeps them fresh for a long time. Good luck with those girls. I find my chickens to be the most gratifying part of farm life :)
aren't they edible even up to two months unrefrigerated?
Awesome chicken coop design- just watched your other video on the set up. I wish I had the room for a coop and a few chickens. You make things look very easy.
starting my chicken coop, thanx for your videos, watching from Tahiti
A large push broom could be used to pull all waste and shavings out. Great system.
starting my chicken coop, thanx for your videos actually watching from Tahiti , merci
This is about the best looking design I have seen so far. I just wish that was already in my backyard.
Awesome job! I am planning to build a very similar set up while incorporating a child's playhouse that is not longer in use. The size and setup of your's is exactly what I wish to accomplish. Thank you so much for taking the time to share! Great videos too…
Have to agree with everyone else. This is a well done coop. Might do something similar for my girls.
Easy peasy... Thanks for sharing.
Find a lumber mill close to you and get sawdust. it should be a lot cheaper. Just take a few trash cans. Most times they will give it to you. and you need to ware a mask when raking out the old bedding material......
Nice coop. I worry about mites using wood so I have a plastic coop. Nice video
Love the Beverly Hillbillies music. Because of yur Great Vid I ordered ducks and chicks today. KEEP UP THE VIDS plz.
Yes great job!!
Thanks for showing us....... More chicken videos please
Great idea!
How often to you clean out the coop? How many chickens do you have for the 4X4 area?
what a hot rooster cleaning out the coop :)
This is definitely a good coop design. What are the benefits of having your coop like this?
What is that you're using for bedding in the coop? We just use a bale of straw in ours. Was just wondering whats in the bag? Looks easier to use & clean up compared to the hay bales we spread out. Cleaning our coop is like trying to clean out a Horse Stable 😂😂😂😂.
how do you clean the sand out ?
where did you get your coop I plan on getting a chicken but can't find a good coop?!?
How often do you have to rotate out the hens and do you start with little chicks when you replace a hen? How much hassle would having a rooster be?
+CoHousing Cooperatives I will be starting my own lil egg layers soon. What I've read is chicks start to lay their own eggs after 18 weeks +/-. eggs for 3 yrs or so +/- with good food/water. Then chicken dinner time..... roosters are noisy and I don't want to hear one. The hens will be quieter or same as my neighbors dogs...
Brilliant design. How often do you have to clean it? I just got my first chicks and we're in the process of building a coop. Getting some great ideas from this. :)
I clean the coop out about once a month now. I put some bins under the chickens roosts and those seem to catch most of the droppings; I empty the bins about once a week. During the summer, you might want to clean it out more often because of the smell. I shoveled out and replaced the sand once in the last year. I'm not an expert on chickens or carpentry, but let me know if you have any questions as you get into building! Good luck!
flemwad18 Time for an update video on the composting system! Thanks for all the great ideas!
dose it real cold in the winter? if so do you just use a heat lamp? thanks.
Here in PA it got very cold for a few weeks this winter (down to -2) a few weeks ago. I turn a heat lamp on if its going to be less than about 25 degrees at night, they don't seem to mind it too much.
Totally irrelevant but you're so cute :) ..and your coop is so perfect lol
This is awesome! Do you prefer this method or the one you mentioned in your video of the pallet coop, where you put the hold in the nesting box and said you would scoop it all out that hole and into a trash can directly? Just curious which you think is easier! Thank you so much!
Definitely the hole in the nesting box floor. No need to set up a tarp or anything. Just put the garbage or compost bin right under there and sweep it down the hole. 👍. Linoleum makes it a breeze
@@E_Fleming that’s what I figured!
Do you happen to have a video on how you did your run?
@@E_Fleming if we did the hole in the nesting box, would we just not put linoleum in that one area then? Just cut a hole in it and leave that part as just plywood that is removable? Or is there another way I’m missing? Sorry for all the questions!
Im a Fleming as well.
Hi man. Great vid, just a question or two. It looks like your coop is about 4x8. How many chickens do you have in there? How many do you think it would house comfortably. Thank you.
357lockdown This coop is actually 5x6 plus the nesting boxes (let's just say 30 square feet of actual living space). I currently have 7 chickens, but this coop could definitely house more.
They recommend 2-4 square feet per bird inside the coop and 10 square feet of run space per bird. Provided that I had a ton of daytime pecking space for them, I could theoretically do 15, but 8-10 would be a much safer bet. If the chickens are confined to a small space, they may start pecking each other...which is a HUUUGE hastle. (Take it from me, I had to build an extended run to help break them of that). Sorry this is so scatterbrained, but I hope that helps.
+flemwad18 You dont need all that room unless your keeping thoes birds inside the coop all the time, if there just in there for the night they need enough room to perch wing to wing. Go out, even on warm nights, a look in the coop, they're bunch up right close, wing to wing. Chickens don't get all closterphobied, they likes it tight. Man I've built them huge mansion luxury coops just to find them bunched every morning. Look up Justin Rhodes on you tube, he's got some very good information on the subject matter. Hope you have a great day:-)
I know people asked this probably, but do U have a veggie garden where U could use the poop compost?
Hey - Could you pleases send me your old bedding so I can recycle it? (as in, back into my coop?) I change bedding twice a year and my chickens would die for some of your old stuff!!
I clicked on the link from your first coop and when I saw you I thought WOW! What a cutie! Glad you're using the waste for your garden. And masks are over rated. Just hold your breath when you know the dust is gonna hit your face. How on earth did all our ancestors survive without masks to clean out a little ole chicken coop. Good grief ! Going back to your original vid as I prepare to build my own coop. Thanks making your vids - very helpful :)
I like to see young men taking responsibility I really makes me feel that The USA family has true💪🏼strong men thank you so much❤ for sharing do you put DE in your deep litter coop?
Thank you! I do not put any DE in the deep litter coop. I believe I had looked into that once when I thought the chickens had mites, but decided against it. It’s not great for chicken or human lungs. I gave them an ash box outside instead.
Do you put the coop clean out material in a composter? Between the wood shavings and nitrogen rich chicken droppings along with other greens you could produce some killer compost.
Yes, I now have bins under all my roosts and all the droppings go into my garden. It does make great compost and also means I can clean the coop out less frequently.
flemwad18
Cool, it is amazing what a few chickens can do for the over all health and vitality of a garden. Will you be making a video about the new bins under your coop?
I actually did mention them in one of my other update videos
Eric do you not compost the after waste?
In a later video I added bins below the roosts and I added their droppings to the garden. I never composted the pine bedding because it takes a while to break down and I was living in a development w this coop
I love your videos, want to build this. I agree with the mask, need to wear one, histoplasmosis loves to live in bird poop. trust me im a radiologist
Ok, I promise next time I clean out the coop...I will wear a mask :-)
I heard a snow roof shovel blade works well!
For bedding
Yes it would....good call!
flemwad18 do you use your creative carpentry/techniques in other areas of your farm? Do you live on a farm?
Unfortunately, I live in a development but I hope to get a good bit of land someday...
I do have a pretty beastly compost pit and garden if that counts for anything :-)
flemwad18
That certainly does plus your chickens, you have an urban farm =-)
flemwad18 hope u do some garden and compost videos,,,its so nice to see the younger generation interested in gardening and producing their own food,,you will b a inspiration to them
Do you compost the manure?
Yes, I do now. After I made this video I put bins under the roosts where I collect their droppings. It's great for compost piles but it also means I have to clean the coop out less often (I empty the bins weekly)
Awesome! Thank you for posting your chicken coop videos. I've been thinking of building one and I like yours a lot. I use them as reference. Thanks again.
I like your design of your coop. How about instructions on building it
I'm actually working on that right now :-)
We are in the planning stages of building a coop. I love this design and the details you provide in the video. Do you have plans available yet? Thank you!
+flemwad18 I'd like to see a video of your chicken run and how you maintain it. I'm still working on my coop/run. Its been raining in here in California so we've had to put off construction a bit.
+Atur Shabbas Wait, you actually got rain?
Are you sure you're in California?
Can you believe it?!?! Still putting finishing touches on the coop. Hopefully I can finish the nesting boxes. I'm not putting the hinge lid like you did. My wife is too short! I'm going to put it on the side facing outward if that makes sense. haha short wife.
WELL DONE! But you still should use a dust mask. enhaling feces dust is awful for your lungs mate! but it didn't take much time at all. Can this be recycled or composted?Cheers!
Yeah, good call on the mask; other people have said the same thing. I do use one mow. I now have bins under each of the roosts where I collect the droppings. I add those to the garden in the fall.
I am watching your construction vid now. alot of tips for working "one-man'd"..cool, cause I can hardly ever find anyone to help when there is "work" to be done..friends don't keep their promises, which sucks. time-saving techniques are very helpful & makes you want to build some things. Thanks for your effort. Appreciated.
I heard that's recyclable little more work but save money
I've been doing a lot of research to determine if keeping chickens is going to be a good fit for me. I really like your design for all the easy outside accesses. But, in my research I've come across some other design ideas I think would suit me also. Here are links to two which I think you might benefit from reviewing.
Droppings boards and sand for litter (I'm getting design ideas of my own for a sifting design to aid in poop disposal).
www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/09/chicken-coop-bedding-sand-litter.html
www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/droppings-boards-because-poop-happens.html
Do a vidio of how you built it
Spencer Burrows I'm hoping to do one soon, but its been a terribly busy summer so far :-/
how often do you have to clean it out
I put plastic bins under the roosts (thats where the chickens usually poop) and I empty those bins every week or so. Other than that, I probably actually pull all the bedding out and redo it every month. During the summer, I probably did it a little more often than that, especially when it was real hot.
i really like the layout of your coup it looks like it is really easy to maintain. i think im going to use a similar design. how many chickens can u fit in that
ken c This is a 30 square foot coop and is ideal for 8-10 chickens. From what I read, 2 square feet per bird (in the coop) is the bare minimum. 3-4 is much better. Problem is, if the birds are too crammed in there they start pecking at each (resulting in sores) and the birds may need to be separated. So, i opted to try and avoid that and also let them live much more happily. In the outdoor run, I believe they recommend 10 square feet of space per bird?
how hard would u say it is to have chickens? do they need maintenance every day? im definitely going to do it but is it harder then you originally thought or not that bad?
ken c With this setup, I can go away for a few days at a time without getting someone to fill food / water. If the chickens have already started laying eggs, you will want someone to come collect those.
When I am at home, its probably about 3 minutes a day of chores. If I'm home, I just check food and water levels, and over the winter I usually close up the coop during at night / open it in the morning. I would say its a little easier than I expected it would be. If you let your coop get messy or you try to cram too many birds in a small space you run the risk of them not not getting along / getting sick and THAT is a hassle you don't want to deal with.
Oh, and I will say...people who buy chickens to save money on eggs will NOT save money. It has gotten a little more expensive than I anticipated it would be.... I hope that was helpful and not TMI. Good luck ken, let me know if you have other questions.
I dont think u need to clean so often and surely u dont throw that out in the trash....compost it.
LMAO
very handsome, ;)
Sorry , i just think you look good:)
There are better designs than this one. Ones with trays underneath so you don't have to get out a tarp and shovel for an hour. dumb