This lady makes chicken poop cleaning one of the most stylish activities. Comes to show that if the individual is naturally elegant, they transfer this elegance to everything they do.
In the US they call them “pine shavings,” and you can see they are actually shavings from many sources including lumber scraps that are shaved. They take these and kiln dry them to kill possible fungi and then remove dust. We also have several zeolite and mineral products which are safe for chickens and humans, which trap the nitrogen and ammonia causing compounds in its matrix, improving the manure in the compost and removing much of the odor. We have several biocidal, viricidal compounds as well to do a semi annual or even quarterly cleaning and disinfecting. My coop is a walk in, I plan deep bedding with pine shavings, and a slightly newer product, ground hemp which comes n large bales. I have also installed poop boards under the roosts for daily removal. It’s wonderful to see your videos.
Thank you! Great informational video - there are so many videos for how to create toys or how to build coops and runs, but so few showing practical tasks! Good to watch in preparation for getting our chooks.
Just encountered your channel - very timely. I’m just beginning to build my tiny farm. Chickens will arrive the last week of June. (Two sheep as well) Presently building a brooder, then a chicken tractor for 16 chickens. 15 hens and a rooster. I’ll be moving the chickens frequently for the benefit of sterilizing the sheep pasture as well as fertilizing the soil and pasture grass. Eventually, I will have separate chicken tractors for broilers and layers. Thanks for these videos.
Good video, lots of useful information. Hopefully it will be of use to me one day. This is an occasion when I am very glad that you cannot get smells through the internet, as I know that chicken poo doesn't half pong!
😀 Hi, great videos, very informative! Just wondered if your chickens sense, and get drawn to, a freshly cleaned coop, a bit like we look forward to fresh bedding? 😂
How often do you do this full clean out and wash down? Currently unsure how often I should be doing it. I’m using the same shavings and daily poop picking like you do x
It varies across the seasons but generally with daily poo picking I do a complete clear out between 1 and 3 months. I know this is a wide margin but if it’s very hot, it may be once a month to reduce the risks of mites. If it’s very cold I’ll leave it longer because it’s harder to get the coop dry and the risk of mites is lower. The other things I take into consideration are: • How much bedding there is. After daily poo picks, the bedding is very gradually reducing. When it gets low, I will definitiely strip down the coop. • The condition of the bedding. Over time it will degenerate going from a lovely creamy color to a dull grey and it wll breakdown into much smaller pieces. I will strip the coop down at that point. Does that make sense?
English Country Life I’ve actually been wondering what to do with all the poop. Up until now I’ve been so focused on getting the coop setup ready and right that I’ve not thought much about all the other little things. Hope I can get into a good cleaning out routine like you too x
There are 3 reasons I do it this way: 1) I think it's nicer for the hens 2) I always get clean eggs. You'd be surprised how often they will lay directly onto poop if it's there 3) I think it's more economic in reducing bedding costs.
Dont bother with smite far to expensive! I use poultry shield the same product for half the price! I used to use smite and switced to poultry shield. And i also disinfect with virkon every quarter for biosecurity. I also use aubibose bedding you use so much less as it absorbs 6 x more than shavings. I like the tip on the red mite and the process of cleaning it was very hepful!
@English Country Life it's an alkaline based can't find the active ingrident it's more chemicals but still cheaper. In smite it's herbal I think is that why you use it?
@@wh880 Smite works by breaking down the physical mite structure so there can't be immunity. It's an effective prophylactic. If we actually had red mite we would use Ivermectin on the birds and Dergall in the coops
@EnglishCountryLife Also do you have a link for a mucking out fork you used I really need one for one of the coops I clean the person wants to use less bedding and the only one that I can find has a metal handle which I can't cut down.
Hi, I've read that cedar shavings contain plicatic acid which is bad for chickens respiratory system so it's probably best avoided. I've never tried it personally
Hi, Newbie here and i found your video series invaluable! We have had our chickens a week and other videos say to clean weekly but it doesnt really seem to require it as they don't really poop in the hen house, are we at more risk of mites if we are not doing it weekly? Also when you sprayed the smite on did you wipe it down or did you leave it to dry on? Thanks again for the informative videos!
Great questions. With Smite you just leave it to dry. Most sites say clean out every 7 days because that's the life cycle of red mite. If you want certainty of not getting red mite then every 7 days is the routine. All I woukd say is my routine of clearing poo each day plus a monthly scrub down has resulted in no red mite in our chivkens in all the time we've had them which has been years. I'm happy with our routine and believe for us we have the right balance of cleanliness vs risk for our chickens. I have friends who follow the 7 day routine and others that clean out far less than we do so it's about a balance for you as a family as well as your comfort factor of risk with creepy crawlies. When we started I was following the 7 day routine but for us realised this wasn't right for the longer term. You will find a balance too.
@@EnglishCountryLife Sorry for not replying sooner but the morning after I sent that message I left them for 2 mintues roaming the garden and came back out to a fox attacking one of them luckily our cat was on hand to chase it off. She only suffered broken feathers but took a week to get over the shock. So its a late thank you for your help and information. Our Buff Orpington chicks are now 12 weeks old - when did you move yours on to layer pellets and when do we expect our first egg as the internet seems to vary alot! Also they sleep in their nest box how do I make them sleep on their perch as i worry they wont know where to lay? Or is this normal? Sorry for long reply and all the questions..
Hi, so sorry to hear about your young hen. I'm glad she came out of the encounter with only minor injuries. OK, for your questions. The bad news is that because Orpingtons are a traditional breed they do not start to lay until 24-26 weeks on average. Modern hybrids can start laying at 14-16 weeks. On this basis, we would move to layers at different times for different breed. We generally move the Orpingtons at 20 weeks to layers. You can do it earlier if you wish at around 16 weeks. The nutritional composition of growers vs layers is miniscule but they will need the extra calcium from layers by week 20. We also supplement with crushed oyster shell. None of our Orpingtons perch. It's typical of heavily feathered large fowl breeds. It's one of the reasons why I chose to poo pick the coops every day so that they are not lying on soiled bedding. You can chose to teach them to perch by picking them up at roosting time and placing them on perches, but it may not work and will definitely take time. I hope that helps
@@EnglishCountryLife Thanks for replying so quick, we are in no rush for the eggs so 24 weeks is fine, they are more pets for our kids than anything and they are certainly a couple if characters 😊 I will move them onto the layers in a couple of months then. That makes sense about them being heavy to perch as they are already big birds (which is why i think the fox couldnt carry them off), i was just worried they may crush any eggs we missed.. Have you removed the perches then to make more room? Thanks again..
@@gavlar5522 Yes, that's right. We have removed perches from every Orpington coop. We have perches in 1 coops only; the coop for the Copper Black Marans and Cream Legbars that are our egg layers. We do have 2 rogue Vream Legbars that insist on roosting in the rafters of the main adult Orpington coop so technically they perch too above the Orpingtons. I promise, they are not likely to crush eggs. Eggs are incredibly resilient. Of course accidents happen but that is no different to any other breed and will generally happen if the shells are thin and are then stood on (not sat on). Does that reassure you?
Hi the English country life in regards to S mite I found a powdered version do you just sprinkle it on the floor of the coop then put the substrate on or how
Is it Smite Organic powder? If so, this is primarily diatomateous earth. It's a dessicant which kills mites by drying them out rather directly killing them by being a biocidal disinfectant. I much prefer the Smite concentrate. The instructions from Smite themselves are "Apply dry Smite Organic Killa Powder at a ratio of 10g per sqm in and around areas which insects frequent. Smite Organic Killa Powder can also be mixed with water at the rate of 4 tablespoons of Smite Organic Killa Powder to 1 gallon (4.5lt) of water and sprayed onto the areas to be treated. As the powder doesn’t completely dissolve the mixture should be shaken or agitated frequently to ensure the mixture is consistent. The addition of 1 tablespoon of mild detergent (such as washing-up liquid) to the mixture will help to keep the powder in suspension and distribute it further into cracks and crevices." I hope this helps.
Hi Effie! This is the brand that we use. We get them from a local feed mill (an actual mill that still works from the original windmill). Its main function is a a wheat & other cereal mill but they also supply animal feed & bedding. Clearly its a lot cheaper when you buy & collect locally, hopefully you have a local feed merchants amzn.to/36WEZQH
Hi Pam, we don't have any mites. We managed to clear our flock of all parasites and since then have maintained very strict biosecurity (e.g. no live birds are brought onto the property - all our birds are hatched on site). That said we treat the coops with Smite every clean out just in case of wild bird introduction.
Yes I would wash a run down in summer but in winter I wouldn't unless we have particulately warm days. With washing the coops I am trying to control mites and remove faeces and used bedding. The run walls and roof won't have bedding or faeces and mites are inactive in the cold. Drying the coop in winter I wait for a sunny warmer day and use lots of very old towels. It's less important to give the coop a full scrub down in winter so if it is very cold I will generally just remove all of the old bedding and add new clean bedding. There are no mites in very cold weather so the wet part of the routine can be left until the weather warms up.
Great videos thank you! I’d love to keep chickens but I know there are already rats and grass snakes in my garden. Am I on a hiding to nothing or is there anything in particular I could do to protect the birds? 🐀 🐍
Rats will be the biggest issue. Basically remove the 3 things they need i.e. shelter, food and water. This video includes all of the things we do to reduce the risks of rats. ruclips.net/video/OLjadgiRoDs/видео.html We have grass snakes here but never around the chickens mainly because they like places to hide. We keep the grass at quite a low height (lawn level) and I think the noise the chickens make scares the snakes away. I don't know if it would be the same with small bantams. I'm only talking about the Large Fowl that we have.
Hi Julia, just thought I'd come back to you again. I really don't think if you are in the UK and we're talking about UK grass snakes (and not a different type of snake in another country that shares the same name) that they are of any threat to chickens at all. They might be to chicks or even eggs because these would be small enough for them to eat (provided no adult hen was in the vicinity) but a fully grown chicken, would be more of a threat to them. Our chickens have chased away squirrels, cats and regularly catch frogs. I have no doubt that if a grass snake was unfortunate enough to enter our chicken field that it would be running away from the chickens, not towards them.
@@EnglishCountryLife thank you 😊 I am in the uk and so it’s a relief to hear your thoughts on grass snakes, they nest in the warmth of my compost bins! I’ll give some more thought to the rats though, also have foxes (although my own dogs will deter them!) Thanks for the videos keeping me entertained and informed through lockdown x
@@juliasheldrake2156 Hi Julia, an electric fence has kept our chickens safe from foxes. We explain how to set one up in this video ruclips.net/video/GyVM1N3ltbI/видео.html
Great question. We have a composting area at the bottom of the field where I keep the buckets. Because they have lids there is no smell so we could keep them anywhere but our main composting area seems the right place.
It will depends on how many chickens you have and how much time they spend in the coop so in other words how much they mess up the inside coop and the condition of their bedding. Ours are only in the coops at night and we scoop poop every day. On that basis we only need to deep clean each coop once a month.
I can't believe how much work you make for yourself. You are constantly cleaning up poop. I'd be sectioning off an area or areas, seeing you like that sort of thing and rotating the foraging and get nature to do the work for me. If you did deep bedding a lá Joe Saladin, you could have your fertilized garden beds ready for the next season and composted bedding to use as fertilizer elsewhere, in a fraction of the time. Collecting chicken poop in a bucket and wait 2yrs for it to break down? No thanks. 😊. Got better things to do with my time. Sacrificing looks for efficiency only works for so long. Stay healthy.
Everyone does it differently and we prefer our chickens to access a large area and remain on grass. It allows their diet to be more akin to a natural diet, provides us with creamier eggs and reduces/eliminates any pecking order fights. I know others are happy to keep chickens in smaller spaces and that's a valid choice. Many of these choose to raise breeds which mature in a small number of weeks e.g. 8 weeks for a broiler rather than the 26 weeks from a traditional breed. It's just a personal choice and each person needs to decide what's important to them. For us, we are smallholders and not farmers. Space and high welfare are the highest importance more than high production. I appreciate your view on the deep bed system and it can work where chickens perch. As a traditional heavy feathered breed Orpingtons are reluctant to perch in fact we only have 1 that does. If we use the deep bed system they will be lying in their own faeces overnight. As they are a traditional slow maturing chicken this will over time produce health issues as feather condition deteriorates and skin lesions similar to bed sores could result. Many people do use the deep bed system very successfully but knowledge of each breeds behaviour and potential lifespan (e.g. a fast growing broiler will not live long enough to develop health issue on this system) before making a choice.
Great question and the answer is that it depends... We will do a deep clean at least every 4 weeks in summer and 6 weeks in winter. We do it less in winter simply because it's both harder to dry the coop and the creepy crawlies like red mite that we are trying to eliminate are less prevalent. We may deep in sooner based on how many chickens are in the coop, how big the coop is and how deep the bedding is Basically if the bedding needs topping up when I poop pick, I will deep clean instead. 👍
My goodness Fiona,what a time-consuming job that you have to do every day. Why don't you use the deep something or other method. I'm sorry but I don't remember what it's called at mo🤦🏻♀️. It's where they keep topdressing and it only needs cleaning out about every 3/4 months.
Partly because the Orpingtons don't perch so they would literally be sleeping on their own faeces & partly to keep their coops clean, fresh & healthy. Using shavings and a fork it takes only a few minutes!
Hi Fiona. Thanks for the informative video! I'm new to chicken keeping and will definitely make use of some of your techniques. What brand of equestrian bedding do you use? Is it Equibed? Also, have you used a linen flax based one before (e.g. Equisorb?). I am just shopping for something equivalent to what you mention using in this video. Thanks again! :-)
Hi Stephanie! We use Snowflake Supreme www.plevinproducts.co.uk/products/products/snowflake-supreme/ We haven't tried a flax one but are always interested to try other products
This lady makes chicken poop cleaning one of the most stylish activities. Comes to show that if the individual is naturally elegant, they transfer this elegance to everything they do.
That's so kind of you! Thank you!
Love these videos. Very helpful for me a beginner!
Thanks Cheryl 🙂
You are a chicken lover, I am a chicken lover.
My husband and I do enjoy our birds 🙂
In the US they call them “pine shavings,” and you can see they are actually shavings from many sources including lumber scraps that are shaved. They take these and kiln dry them to kill possible fungi and then remove dust. We also have several zeolite and mineral products which are safe for chickens and humans, which trap the nitrogen and ammonia causing compounds in its matrix, improving the manure in the compost and removing much of the odor. We have several biocidal, viricidal compounds as well to do a semi annual or even quarterly cleaning and disinfecting. My coop is a walk in, I plan deep bedding with pine shavings, and a slightly newer product, ground hemp which comes n large bales. I have also installed poop boards under the roosts for daily removal. It’s wonderful to see your videos.
Dry and dust extracted is definitely important. So glad you enjoy the videos!
You can tell she really cares for them :) Great video!
Thank you so much
Thank you! Great informational video - there are so many videos for how to create toys or how to build coops and runs, but so few showing practical tasks! Good to watch in preparation for getting our chooks.
I'm glad it was useful 👍
I just adopted some battery hens. I did my research on care before hand but your videos keep me refreshed on care.
Thank you so much! That's very kind of you
A lot of people seem to be doing that where I live to the point where a local farmer shop can't keep chicken feed going.
@@celtichound9889 Chicken keeping really has become very popular recently. We have been inundated with enquiries for hens.
These videos are brilliant. Picking our first 2 hens up on Monday. Thanks for your invaluable tips and advice.
How exciting, that's wonderful!
Thank you! Cheers from Texas, USA. 😎👍🏻🐔🐓
Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Just encountered your channel - very timely. I’m just beginning to build my tiny farm. Chickens will arrive the last week of June. (Two sheep as well)
Presently building a brooder, then a chicken tractor for 16 chickens. 15 hens and a rooster. I’ll be moving the chickens frequently for the benefit of sterilizing the sheep pasture as well as fertilizing the soil and pasture grass. Eventually, I will have separate chicken tractors for broilers and layers. Thanks for these videos.
That sounds really exciting!
Super video, pitched perfectly and covering the important issues. A huge thank you from a newbie in Spain. Thank you for the great advice.
That is so kind of you ☺ Thanks
Excellent tips
You have brilliant way of narrating thing
Thank you so much 🙂
Excellent series of videos - thank you!
That's really kind, thank you.
You should get some pekin bantams
We've tried many breeds but generally prefer large fowl
I clean mine everyday sometimes 2 times aday and the roost. I have only 3 and they are my pets. LOVE MY DIVAS. LOL
Lucky hens 🙂
Good video, lots of useful information. Hopefully it will be of use to me one day.
This is an occasion when I am very glad that you cannot get smells through the internet, as I know that chicken poo doesn't half pong!
In that case don't breed them. You would not BELIEVE how much more a broody hen's poo smells!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment too 😁
😀 Hi, great videos, very informative! Just wondered if your chickens sense, and get drawn to, a freshly cleaned coop, a bit like we look forward to fresh bedding? 😂
They certainly like to check up on their human chambermaid!
Great video I'll be sure to link to you in some of my beginner questions I get too. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much! Any questions, just ask 👍
How often do you do this full clean out and wash down? Currently unsure how often I should be doing it. I’m using the same shavings and daily poop picking like you do x
It varies across the seasons but generally with daily poo picking I do a complete clear out between 1 and 3 months. I know this is a wide margin but if it’s very hot, it may be once a month to reduce the risks of mites. If it’s very cold I’ll leave it longer because it’s harder to get the coop dry and the risk of mites is lower.
The other things I take into consideration are:
• How much bedding there is. After daily poo picks, the bedding is very gradually reducing. When it gets low, I will definitiely strip down the coop.
• The condition of the bedding. Over time it will degenerate going from a lovely creamy color to a dull grey and it wll breakdown into much smaller pieces. I will strip the coop down at that point.
Does that make sense?
Great series, thankyou for you advice. Can the used bedding go in a compost bin?
Yes it absolutely can go in the compost bin and can replace the normal rougher material like straw that the compost bin needs to work.
Great video!
Thanks Sarah, that's really kind of you. People do compost the poop as well.
English Country Life I’ve actually been wondering what to do with all the poop. Up until now I’ve been so focused on getting the coop setup ready and right that I’ve not thought much about all the other little things. Hope I can get into a good cleaning out routine like you too x
There are 3 reasons I do it this way: 1) I think it's nicer for the hens 2) I always get clean eggs. You'd be surprised how often they will lay directly onto poop if it's there 3) I think it's more economic in reducing bedding costs.
Eow nice very informative
Thanks Nash!
Dont bother with smite far to expensive! I use poultry shield the same product for half the price! I used to use smite and switced to poultry shield. And i also disinfect with virkon every quarter for biosecurity. I also use aubibose bedding you use so much less as it absorbs 6 x more than shavings. I like the tip on the red mite and the process of cleaning it was very hepful!
What's the active ingredient in poultry shield?
@English Country Life it's an alkaline based can't find the active ingrident it's more chemicals but still cheaper. In smite it's herbal I think is that why you use it?
@@wh880 Smite works by breaking down the physical mite structure so there can't be immunity. It's an effective prophylactic. If we actually had red mite we would use Ivermectin on the birds and Dergall in the coops
@@EnglishCountryLifedo you ever consider using aubibose?
@EnglishCountryLife Also do you have a link for a mucking out fork you used I really need one for one of the coops I clean the person wants to use less bedding and the only one that I can find has a metal handle which I can't cut down.
how often do you completely clean the coops?
They get poo picked every day, bedding top ups weekly and strip cleaned monthly
Hi Fiona! I appreciate your videos so much. One question: is cedar equestrian bedding okay? I heard that cedar is toxic for chickens. Is that true?
Hi, I've read that cedar shavings contain plicatic acid which is bad for chickens respiratory system so it's probably best avoided. I've never tried it personally
Hi, Newbie here and i found your video series invaluable! We have had our chickens a week and other videos say to clean weekly but it doesnt really seem to require it as they don't really poop in the hen house, are we at more risk of mites if we are not doing it weekly? Also when you sprayed the smite on did you wipe it down or did you leave it to dry on?
Thanks again for the informative videos!
Great questions. With Smite you just leave it to dry.
Most sites say clean out every 7 days because that's the life cycle of red mite. If you want certainty of not getting red mite then every 7 days is the routine. All I woukd say is my routine of clearing poo each day plus a monthly scrub down has resulted in no red mite in our chivkens in all the time we've had them which has been years.
I'm happy with our routine and believe for us we have the right balance of cleanliness vs risk for our chickens. I have friends who follow the 7 day routine and others that clean out far less than we do so it's about a balance for you as a family as well as your comfort factor of risk with creepy crawlies. When we started I was following the 7 day routine but for us realised this wasn't right for the longer term. You will find a balance too.
@@EnglishCountryLife Sorry for not replying sooner but the morning after I sent that message I left them for 2 mintues roaming the garden and came back out to a fox attacking one of them luckily our cat was on hand to chase it off. She only suffered broken feathers but took a week to get over the shock. So its a late thank you for your help and information.
Our Buff Orpington chicks are now 12 weeks old - when did you move yours on to layer pellets and when do we expect our first egg as the internet seems to vary alot! Also they sleep in their nest box how do I make them sleep on their perch as i worry they wont know where to lay? Or is this normal?
Sorry for long reply and all the questions..
Hi, so sorry to hear about your young hen. I'm glad she came out of the encounter with only minor injuries.
OK, for your questions. The bad news is that because Orpingtons are a traditional breed they do not start to lay until 24-26 weeks on average. Modern hybrids can start laying at 14-16 weeks.
On this basis, we would move to layers at different times for different breed. We generally move the Orpingtons at 20 weeks to layers. You can do it earlier if you wish at around 16 weeks. The nutritional composition of growers vs layers is miniscule but they will need the extra calcium from layers by week 20. We also supplement with crushed oyster shell.
None of our Orpingtons perch. It's typical of heavily feathered large fowl breeds. It's one of the reasons why I chose to poo pick the coops every day so that they are not lying on soiled bedding. You can chose to teach them to perch by picking them up at roosting time and placing them on perches, but it may not work and will definitely take time.
I hope that helps
@@EnglishCountryLife Thanks for replying so quick, we are in no rush for the eggs so 24 weeks is fine, they are more pets for our kids than anything and they are certainly a couple if characters 😊 I will move them onto the layers in a couple of months then.
That makes sense about them being heavy to perch as they are already big birds (which is why i think the fox couldnt carry them off), i was just worried they may crush any eggs we missed.. Have you removed the perches then to make more room?
Thanks again..
@@gavlar5522 Yes, that's right. We have removed perches from every Orpington coop. We have perches in 1 coops only; the coop for the Copper Black Marans and Cream Legbars that are our egg layers. We do have 2 rogue Vream Legbars that insist on roosting in the rafters of the main adult Orpington coop so technically they perch too above the Orpingtons.
I promise, they are not likely to crush eggs. Eggs are incredibly resilient. Of course accidents happen but that is no different to any other breed and will generally happen if the shells are thin and are then stood on (not sat on).
Does that reassure you?
Hi the English country life in regards to S mite I found a powdered version do you just sprinkle it on the floor of the coop then put the substrate on or how
Is it Smite Organic powder? If so, this is primarily diatomateous earth. It's a dessicant which kills mites by drying them out rather directly killing them by being a biocidal disinfectant. I much prefer the Smite concentrate.
The instructions from Smite themselves are "Apply dry Smite Organic Killa Powder at a ratio of 10g per sqm in and around areas which insects frequent. Smite Organic Killa Powder can also be mixed with water at the rate of 4 tablespoons of Smite Organic Killa Powder to 1 gallon (4.5lt) of water and sprayed onto the areas to be treated. As the powder doesn’t completely dissolve the mixture should be shaken or agitated frequently to ensure the mixture is consistent. The addition of 1 tablespoon of mild detergent (such as washing-up liquid) to the mixture will help to keep the powder in suspension and distribute it further into cracks and crevices."
I hope this helps.
Could you please tell us where you get the wood shavings from?
Thank you
Hi Effie!
This is the brand that we use. We get them from a local feed mill (an actual mill that still works from the original windmill). Its main function is a a wheat & other cereal mill but they also supply animal feed & bedding. Clearly its a lot cheaper when you buy & collect locally, hopefully you have a local feed merchants
amzn.to/36WEZQH
What do you think of the deep litter method?
Its an approach that many commercial keepers use and doubtless less work but we prefer to remove faeces every day.
how do you keep mites in check in the coup?
Hi Pam, we don't have any mites. We managed to clear our flock of all parasites and since then have maintained very strict biosecurity (e.g. no live birds are brought onto the property - all our birds are hatched on site). That said we treat the coops with Smite every clean out just in case of wild bird introduction.
We have a run, would you also wash this down ?
How do you get it to dry in the winter months ? Great video Xxx
Yes I would wash a run down in summer but in winter I wouldn't unless we have particulately warm days. With washing the coops I am trying to control mites and remove faeces and used bedding. The run walls and roof won't have bedding or faeces and mites are inactive in the cold.
Drying the coop in winter I wait for a sunny warmer day and use lots of very old towels. It's less important to give the coop a full scrub down in winter so if it is very cold I will generally just remove all of the old bedding and add new clean bedding. There are no mites in very cold weather so the wet part of the routine can be left until the weather warms up.
BTW Thank you so much for the compliment 😀 Great question too. I wish I had covered it in the video.
Great videos thank you! I’d love to keep chickens but I know there are already rats and grass snakes in my garden. Am I on a hiding to nothing or is there anything in particular I could do to protect the birds? 🐀 🐍
Rats will be the biggest issue. Basically remove the 3 things they need i.e. shelter, food and water. This video includes all of the things we do to reduce the risks of rats.
ruclips.net/video/OLjadgiRoDs/видео.html
We have grass snakes here but never around the chickens mainly because they like places to hide. We keep the grass at quite a low height (lawn level) and I think the noise the chickens make scares the snakes away. I don't know if it would be the same with small bantams. I'm only talking about the Large Fowl that we have.
Hi Julia, just thought I'd come back to you again. I really don't think if you are in the UK and we're talking about UK grass snakes (and not a different type of snake in another country that shares the same name) that they are of any threat to chickens at all. They might be to chicks or even eggs because these would be small enough for them to eat (provided no adult hen was in the vicinity) but a fully grown chicken, would be more of a threat to them.
Our chickens have chased away squirrels, cats and regularly catch frogs. I have no doubt that if a grass snake was unfortunate enough to enter our chicken field that it would be running away from the chickens, not towards them.
@@EnglishCountryLife thank you 😊
I am in the uk and so it’s a relief to hear your thoughts on grass snakes, they nest in the warmth of my compost bins!
I’ll give some more thought to the rats though, also have foxes (although my own dogs will deter them!)
Thanks for the videos keeping me entertained and informed through lockdown x
@@juliasheldrake2156 Hi Julia, an electric fence has kept our chickens safe from foxes. We explain how to set one up in this video
ruclips.net/video/GyVM1N3ltbI/видео.html
Do you clean the poop every day ?
Yes we do. Many people choose not to but hygiene of our flick matters to us
Where do you keep the buckets of poo? Do they begin to stink?
Great question.
We have a composting area at the bottom of the field where I keep the buckets. Because they have lids there is no smell so we could keep them anywhere but our main composting area seems the right place.
How often do u need to deep clean the coop ?
It will depends on how many chickens you have and how much time they spend in the coop so in other words how much they mess up the inside coop and the condition of their bedding. Ours are only in the coops at night and we scoop poop every day. On that basis we only need to deep clean each coop once a month.
I can't believe how much work you make for yourself. You are constantly cleaning up poop. I'd be sectioning off an area or areas, seeing you like that sort of thing and rotating the foraging and get nature to do the work for me. If you did deep bedding a lá Joe Saladin, you could have your fertilized garden beds ready for the next season and composted bedding to use as fertilizer elsewhere, in a fraction of the time. Collecting chicken poop in a bucket and wait 2yrs for it to break down? No thanks. 😊. Got better things to do with my time. Sacrificing looks for efficiency only works for so long. Stay healthy.
Everyone does it differently and we prefer our chickens to access a large area and remain on grass. It allows their diet to be more akin to a natural diet, provides us with creamier eggs and reduces/eliminates any pecking order fights. I know others are happy to keep chickens in smaller spaces and that's a valid choice. Many of these choose to raise breeds which mature in a small number of weeks e.g. 8 weeks for a broiler rather than the 26 weeks from a traditional breed. It's just a personal choice and each person needs to decide what's important to them. For us, we are smallholders and not farmers. Space and high welfare are the highest importance more than high production.
I appreciate your view on the deep bed system and it can work where chickens perch. As a traditional heavy feathered breed Orpingtons are reluctant to perch in fact we only have 1 that does. If we use the deep bed system they will be lying in their own faeces overnight. As they are a traditional slow maturing chicken this will over time produce health issues as feather condition deteriorates and skin lesions similar to bed sores could result. Many people do use the deep bed system very successfully but knowledge of each breeds behaviour and potential lifespan (e.g. a fast growing broiler will not live long enough to develop health issue on this system) before making a choice.
Hi, how often do you have to do a deep cleaning of a coop?
Great question and the answer is that it depends...
We will do a deep clean at least every 4 weeks in summer and 6 weeks in winter. We do it less in winter simply because it's both harder to dry the coop and the creepy crawlies like red mite that we are trying to eliminate are less prevalent.
We may deep in sooner based on how many chickens are in the coop, how big the coop is and how deep the bedding is
Basically if the bedding needs topping up when I poop pick, I will deep clean instead. 👍
@@EnglishCountryLife: Cheers.
My goodness Fiona,what a time-consuming job that you have to do every day. Why don't you use the deep something or other method. I'm sorry but I don't remember what it's called at mo🤦🏻♀️. It's where they keep topdressing and it only needs cleaning out about every 3/4 months.
Partly because the Orpingtons don't perch so they would literally be sleeping on their own faeces & partly to keep their coops clean, fresh & healthy. Using shavings and a fork it takes only a few minutes!
Hi Fiona. Thanks for the informative video! I'm new to chicken keeping and will definitely make use of some of your techniques. What brand of equestrian bedding do you use? Is it Equibed? Also, have you used a linen flax based one before (e.g. Equisorb?). I am just shopping for something equivalent to what you mention using in this video. Thanks again! :-)
Hi Stephanie! We use Snowflake Supreme
www.plevinproducts.co.uk/products/products/snowflake-supreme/
We haven't tried a flax one but are always interested to try other products