How do I keep my chickens clean?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 200 comments
Chickens are not naturally clean creatures, unlike the story book ones. Do you remember them? Clean living hens, wearing spotted scarves and venturing out to the market with a basket hooked over a wing and a clutch of chicks close by.
Real life chickens will foul their chicken house and quite often foul the nesting box. The only chicken that I have known to actively ‘clean’ her house was Mrs Boss. When the guinea fowl keets hatched she pulled all the hay from her nest out of their house in the ark. The more clean hay and woodchips I added the more she pushed them into their run. After a couple of weeks, I admitted defeat. The keets slept under Mrs Boss’ wings, on bare boards. I could never understand why she did this.
If chickens are not cleaned out regularly their droppings can harbour and spread disease. Droppings in the nesting box can foul the eggs. Remove any droppings immediately from the nesting box when you see them.
There is also the question of chicken mites. In warmer weather, mites can breed like wildfire in a house that is not treated regularly. They lay their eggs in dark nooks and crannies in the house and are at their most active at night. They bite the chickens and these bites can become infected.
An imaginative Estate Agent might describe our hen house as,
“A Canadian style two storey lodge. Lower floor family room with traditional wooden slatted staircase leading to spacious communal bedroom for 8 plus with half mansard ceiling and door to cosy penthouse nesting box.”
It gets a good cleanout once a week. And a top to toe super valet and repair in the Spring and Autumn.
If you are canny, the weekly cleanout for an average sized house (ours is designed to accommodate 6-8 Maran hens) takes about twenty minutes, often it is completed in ten.
The trick to quick and easy cleaning is to store everything that you might need within a few feet of the chicken house. We keep our chicken consumables in two large barrels in the run. One holds the bedding the other contains sprays, powders, oyster shells, grit and everything that a chicken keeper might need. These storage bins are also popular with the flock as they have another vantage point on which to stand and observe the world.
Our chicken feed is stored in the boot of Danny’s car and in a large aluminium grain store in the garden. Along with the wild bird and Min Pin food.
Generally I pull on my chicken cleaning gloves at midday when the flock are out an about in the run. Initially I spray the inside of the house with a decent anti mite spray. I close the door to the house as I am not sure how safe the spray is for the flock (although it is marked suitable for an aviary with residents). While the spray wafts through the house I collect all the stuff that I need from the barrels. woodchips, fresh hay and mite powder.
The old woodchips, hay and droppings are swept into the chicken run dustpan and go into their bucket (this was sold to me as a nappy bucket and has a lid). This lid is handy as the bucket can sit happily inside the run until it is full.
Once all debris has been removed, I spread wood chips on the floor of the house. These are great as they absorb moisture and make the chicken cleaning process much easier. They are available in enormous chunky packs. and a pack lasts for months. I lay a layer of woodchips in the nesting box topped with a thickish layer of hay. My mum recommended hay for the nests as mites can breed easily in the hollow strands of straw. The hens fashion the hay into nests very quickly, even if they are off lay.
Once fresh chips and hay have been spread, I return to the barrels for oyster shells and grit. I used to put these in a nifty container in the run, now I cast them just before I open the gates to get out. The flock dives for these and before they have discovered that they are not deluxe grain mix I am the other side of the wire. Poultry need grit. Ours find this in the back wall of the run. If yours don’t have access to a wall don’t forget to provide them with grit, if you are feeding them seeds and corn as it essential for breaking down the husks in their gullets.
Chickens are fine on woodchips alone and I have seen many happy hen houses that just have newspaper spread on the floor. Once you find an effective way to keep your chickens clean that suits you, use it on a weekly basis. You and your chickens will bloom.
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Re the broody chicken dilemma-a really persistent broody chicken can stay in the nest for weeks getting weaker. My experienced chook keeping brother swears by shutting the hen under a box without food and water until it gives up but I think that is a bit cruel. The best cure is to remove the nest boxes or lock the hen out of the coop during the day if you can. They usually get over it in a week or so if they don’t have access to their chosen nest. My pekin bantam will sit for weeks on no eggs if I let her. That is when they are prone to mite infestation. A regular dust bath is a good way of eliminating mites and sand in the coop if you have a cement floor will help. Diatomaceous Earth added to the sand helps. Make sure it is food grade.
For henpecking problems, a new hen can often be introduced to the coop by fencing off a section of the coop or putting her in a large crate with a wire front and placing it in the coop for a few days. The other hens have a chance to get used to her without her actually mingling with them until they accept her. There will still be the occasional peck from the top dog but it should be less of a problem. I also keep my new chickens in their coop for a few days without letting them out to free range, until they are used to their new surroundings. That way they are happy to go to roost in their pen at night once they are familiar with their home.
Sorry you’re having red mite problems… See my comments on this problem June 2011…
I remember my Mama talking about the red mite problem in some folks’ hen houses, but yet, I don’t think we ever had them… and we’re talking about having 100 new baby chicks every year… then we would butcher all but one of the roosters for Southern Fried Chicken, and the rest would join the layers from last year until they grew too old to lay… I’m using the same old rock chicken house my Mama used in the 1940’s, for my 15 laying hens… with the dirt floor, and same aluminum nests Mama used…
And, I confess I don’t clean the hen-house as often as I should… but don’t think they have mites.
And all I do, to prevent, and/or to kill the mites if they are there, is every couple of months, put several buckets of wood ashes — one or two small buckets full in each of the various low places protected from dampness… where I often see my “biddies” fluffing their feathers. They get in there, and take their “bath” in those ashes, and act like they are having fun! (Wet ashes have a caustic effect… so be sure to put the “remedy” where it won’t get rained on!)
Hope this info is helpful!
Blessings to all… MuleMarm aka Texas Gal
hi i have just discovered mites in my hen coop, i don’t know what they are, i’m not sure if theyare red mites.when i lift the lid you can see these small dark mites around the rim, when i squish them you can see the blood. i have looked at my hens and i can see some mites on a few of them, they are a light fawny colour and there are some that are the same as the ones in the coop. your site is really good but my mind is boggled as to what i should do. can you please advice what i. should do thanyou. jean
Hi Emma
Thanks for your answer and what a good idea, they wont be able to shred that and spread it everywhere. I’ll be giving that a go now. Cheers. Trev
thats brilliant – I just bought three of these for my kids bedrooms and didnt even think of the chooks, genius.
Hi Trev,
I have recently purchased a polypropylene office chair mat designed for use on hard floors. I chose this as it was larger than the floor area of my wooden hen house (solid floor, not slatted) and although it was really tough to cut, I was able to reduce it to fit the floor area. It does bend and therefore can be placed in the house, but is rigid enough for bedding material to be added on top . The girls are more than happy with the flooring and cannot move it. It also makes cleaning really easy! I wanted to prevent the floor of the house getting soiled, especially being wood which is more difficult to clean. The mat can easily be washed and dried before placing back in the house followed by adding the necessary powders and a thick layer of bedding. My chicken house area (less nest box) is 2ft square. Maybe worth considering…
Hi Kaz – just a quick update….my hen is happy and no longer broody! At least I have the crate should she or one of the others become broody again…which I believe could happen as she is a speckled hen and therefore apparently prone to broodiness.. thanks for your comments x
Hi Emma – sounds like you have a good plan. We live in a town next to the woods so our foxes have the best of both worlds – I think they probably find enough from people and the killing is more of an instinctual thing than a necessity -perhaps the feathers put them off? Anyway, such is the great scheme of things x
Thanks Kaz, firstly, sorry to hear about your hen….I really hope that I don’t experience the same and I have no idea why the fox didn’t kill for food. I have read that May is the month to worry, as foxes have their cubs, but this would indicate that the killing would be for food…?
I purchased a small dog crate today, suspended it on bricks and left it in the chicken area this afternoon with my other two hens. My broody hen, Ellie wasn’t particularly impressed, but she soon settled and is now in the garage over night. I will place her back in the chicken area tomorrow still in the cage. I am planning to give her her freedom on Saturday and hoping that the broodiness will have passed!!
Hi all – sorry to bring a downer on things but I lost a hen to the foxes a few nights ago. I love foxes so I dont feel too upset and I’m told that they kill quickly, but……they just left her there in the garden. Can anyone tell me why they dont kill for food? I lost some ducks in the same way a while ago.
Emma – when my hen goes broody she upsets the others so I put her in a cat box in the chicken area for a day or so (with access to food and water)and she soon gets over it.