# Spot Cleaning Run



## Wigwam7 (Mar 29, 2017)

I am having a little bit of a problem in my chicken coop.
Every day, I have to go out there and spot clean the run with a shovel and debris pan. If I let it go a day...oh, man! Dirt, feces, and feathers quickly overcome the run.
These birds so much! They have enough space in the run. It is just a hassle to clean. I have sand in the run with hardware cloth all underneath. When I spot clean, I scoop up areas of dirt and such. However, this removes all the sand day by day and then I have to drag a 50 pound bag over there and spread it out throughout the chicken coop. I do this about once a week...one bag of sand a week! This cleaning process is not working well.
Another thing to keep in mind is that I have hardware cloth ALL under the coop, so the chickens cannot be on plain dirt unless I bought soil bags and laid it over the wire.

Any suggestions for cleaning? Thanks.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Yep... a kitty litter scooper ...take a rake and attach hardwire cloth, then when you scoop the run the sand falls thru and only the poop and feathers get thrown out. I have a rake that I added hardwire cloth to it, I can scoop poop and feathers and the sand and dirt falls thru the hardwire attached to the rake..


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I used a strainer for pool cleaning. Or get a stainless steel sieve. Put what you want to clean in the sieve and the sand will sift out.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I flip a short tooth rake and skim the top. The rest dries out and turns to dirt. How big is your run and how many chickens are there?


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Heh, wait til they all go into molt lol.


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## Wilbur's Mom (Aug 10, 2017)

My girls are in a 10x10 pen with their coop set inside. Just on grass, I've thought about sand, but not sure what we need to do. Will need to change the setup before winter comes on though.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Wilbur's Mom said:


> My girls are in a 10x10 pen with their coop set inside. Just on grass, I've thought about sand, but not sure what we need to do. Will need to change the setup before winter comes on though.


This is where posting a pic allows us to give you advice to make things easier for you when it comes to the changes. Believe me, we've all done a ton of work at times just to find what we did didn't work at all.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I use straw.1 $3 bale lasts up to 2-3 weeks for a 10 x 12 coop.In the winter it goes quicker.


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## Wigwam7 (Mar 29, 2017)

Maryellen said:


> Yep... a kitty litter scooper ...take a rake and attach hardwire cloth, then when you scoop the run the sand falls thru and only the poop and feathers get thrown out. I have a rake that I added hardwire cloth to it, I can scoop poop and feathers and the sand and dirt falls thru the hardwire attached to the rake..


That is super smart! I never thought of that before! The good sand is always getting thrown out with the waste. The siding of the coop is hardware cloth but the gaps are too big and it would let too much fall through back into the sand, but if I got smaller spaced hardware cloth then that would work.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

We just rake sand and all because it's all recycled in to my raised bed garden. No loss at all...


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## Wigwam7 (Mar 29, 2017)

Nm156 said:


> I use straw.1 $3 bale lasts up to 2-3 weeks for a 10 x 12 coop.In the winter it goes quicker.


After our bag of pine shavings runs out, I will use hay/straw inside the coop, but I believe I will continue using sand in the run.


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## Wigwam7 (Mar 29, 2017)

robin416 said:


> I used a strainer for pool cleaning. Or get a stainless steel sieve. Put what you want to clean in the sieve and the sand will sift out.


I'm definitely going to use that. Which works better? A pool strainer or hardware cloth attached to a rake? I'd assume the strainer since it has smaller gaps.


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## Wigwam7 (Mar 29, 2017)

seminolewind said:


> I flip a short tooth rake and skim the top. The rest dries out and turns to dirt. How big is your run and how many chickens are there?


Our run is 4 x 8 and has 4 chickens in it.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Hay is food.Straw isn't. Lots of people use hay,but it has higher chances of mold and costs more.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

No matter what you use to scoop poop, cecal poop will stick to whatever you're using, even if it's clumped with sand. Of course you can rinse off the scoop in a bucket of water placed near the coop or use a garden hose.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

I used hay for years without any problems and cleaned coops once a week. Then did a complete change out once a month. Since moving to Jax, I've used pine shavings because I dont have as many chickens as I did in Georgia.
Keeping everything as dry as possible is imperative. Check out the trap door behind the fan....easy clean out.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

With my pens, they are 16x16. And I rake up the poopiest areas weekly and the whole pen when it needs it. I think the size helps.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

My run is over 2000 sq ft.Native dirt only out there.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

The coop in my pic above was 8'Wx16'L. It was the largest of the 3 coops. The pen was about 10x10. The rest of the pens were about 8x10. I rarely penned my birds as they had almost an acre of yard to free range.


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## oldhen2345 (May 14, 2017)

Maryellen said:


> Yep... a kitty litter scooper ...take a rake and attach hardwire cloth, then when you scoop the run the sand falls thru and only the poop and feathers get thrown out. I have a rake that I added hardwire cloth to it, I can scoop poop and feathers and the sand and dirt falls thru the hardwire attached to the rake..


WOW what a great idea- I have been dreading cleaning the bottom of the run out because of all the sand I remove with the feathers and poop. How did you secure the hardwire? Thanks


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

I used heavy duty small tie wraps to secure the hardwire.


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## oldhen2345 (May 14, 2017)

Maryellen said:


> I used heavy duty small tie wraps to secure the hardwire.


Thanks, will do that.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

Here is my homemade scooper.
It's perfect for smaller coop and run


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