That’s what Michael always said when we were dealing with a really poopy diaper back in the diaper days and it’s my first thought when I step into the chicken coop in the morning.
I love to talk about all of the lovely reasons to raise chickens… the eggs, the colors, the educational benefits, the pest control, the fluffy beautiful fun. There is another side to this business though and to be fair and transparent the time has come for me to hit that too.
There is a LOT of poop.
Here we go… this is from one night in the coop and it’s just one side of the room. This is a lot of poop to clean up.
We use this handy dandy scraper. It’s located in a tricky spot, over to the right where I can’t quite reach without leaning into the perch but I manage when I have to. Truth be told, Michael does most of the scraping. I fill in when he’s not able to which was the case yesterday morning because he wasn’t feeling well. So, I finally got these chicken poop photos I’ve been meaning to take.
I’m a pretty spoiled chicken mama and Michael is a very dedicated chicken dad so it all works out.
This is what one morning’s poop removal looks like.
We scrape it up every day first thing. I know that not everyone does it this way, you can wait and add hay on top then clean it out less often but we’re kind of daily chicken coop cleaners. About once every four to six weeks we (I use the word “we” very loosely here) do a more thorough cleaning and remove the old hay and put fresh down.
The daily poop goes out to the compost piles down in the woods to break down. We add it to the garden as compost after a year or so.
It’s one of the best composts ever!
Guess I’m right back to the good reasons to keep chickens!
poop-poop-e-doop!
Have a great day!
Michele
The Salem Garden 
Chicken poop, if properly composted, is excellent for the garden. There is a LOT of it, though, and it smells terrible. You are very smart to clean it out daily. If I ever keep chickens again, I will have only a few and keep them confined in a yard just for them. To keep their yolks that lovely orange, though, they need a combination of plants such as super-green alfalfa hay (around here they come in these super-dense cubes that I can barely lift) or grow trays of fodder. They are carnivores, though, and prefer insects. Not sure how to raise those 🙂
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Hi Michele!! Yes, they do need a varied diet with lots of plants. When their not ranging and foraging in the yard and edge of the woods we give them a lot of variety (scraps, weeds, grass, etc). Ours always have lots of insects too and they do love them!
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I cleaned our coop last Saturday when the temps were a little warmer. But, I had to pull the wagon over the snow all the way to the compost area. The snow is so compressed I just walked on top. 🙂
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Hi Judy! Glad it was compressed and frozen rather than muddy!!
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Thought your blog post title was as cute as can be. Would love to have some of your poop-poop-e-doop for MY veggie garden. Found out last week that I can buy it at my Ace Hardware so I’m going to look into that next time I’m in there. Imagine having to BUY poop.
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Yes, I’ve seen it for sale, which kind of cracks me up! Glad you like the title, I did too, lol
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Poop-poop-e-doop HAS to be on sale for folks with no access. My neighbor has chickens but he also has a veggie garden so there’s none leftover for me.
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My second reason for getting chickens once again 🙂 First is the yummy fresh eggs 🙂
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Am I to understand that your getting chickens again Eunice?? That’s awesome!!
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Yes I will try to get a concrete pad laid, house built to withstand ANYTHING 🙂 it is WILD UP HERE and I want them safe. So I ready a place and get yard in order and have local people who raise the good ones for our weather brrr
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That’s great! If you go with the hardier breeds and predator proof the coop they should be fine. You have a dog too, which I think helps to deter the critters a little bit.
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🙂 Yes but she is in bed with us each night when the nasty ones like coons, fishers, fox, coyote show up 🙂 I must make it safe and he will add something to roll it around the huge property so they can help me with bug control 🙂
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I’ve been composting mine too and wow does it ever break down a compost pile! I was wondering if you completely clean out your coop. My floor is covered in pine shavings and I’m wondering if I should clean it out totally. Thanks for the great info!
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HI Brenda, yes we do about six weeks or so, not so much in the winter as in warmer weather. I know some people leave it for a long time and it works out fine. Michael likes to clean it out. Hope all is well with you!
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thanks. We are so busy right now I feel l am meeting myself coming and going. We have had some warmer weather lately so that adds to all the activity! Hope you are getting some warmer weather!
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