Maintaining Your Chicken Coop

 

When raising chickens, one of the first things you’ll end up considering is the coop. Your chickens need a place to stay, and they certainly won’t be sleeping in the house with you. That’s why it’s so important that they have a clean, warm, coop to call their own. It’s also why maintaining said coop is vital to living with chickens. Here are a few things to consider to help you maintain your coop for years to come.

Clean Often:

Chickens are messy. No more messy than any other animals, but living in a single confined space will absolutely magnify the situation. They can’t be housebroken or learn how to just use a litter tray, so they’ll be using the bedding you provide quite a lot. It’s a good idea to do a quick sweep of the coop once or twice a week for dirt and feathers as they collect since clutter breeds a mess. A general sweep of bedding should also occur fairly frequently as it can get ripe rather quick.

Deep Clean Almost as Often:

That bedding I just mentioned is going to keep getting more and more filthy as time goes on, despite how good you are with weekly cleanings. That’s why you should make sure to change out bedding on a regular basis to help stop parasites and insects from getting too comfortable and multiplying. You may hear that you can leave bedding for a few months, but it’s much better to do a full clean of your coop roughly once a month. This will take a bit longer than the weekly cleanings because you’ll need to do more than just sweep it out. Getting in deep with the dirt and grit building up in the corners will help to eliminate unwanted pests and just perpetuates a cleaner, healthier environment.

Check Your Structure Frequently and Make Repairs:

Usually the best time to check your coop is in the spring as fall and winter take the greatest toll on any structure, but there’s no excuse to neglect checking your coop now and then for basic things. Is there a crack in the wall? Is there a hole in the roof? Is the screen on the front becoming warped? Neglecting these things will only create a bigger problem later down the line, so if you see something amiss, fix it as soon as you get the chance.

And that’s thankfully all you really need to do to maintain your chicken coop. There’s always the thought of adding another coop should your flock expand, but other than that, regular cleanings and inspections should keep your coop standing strong for years to come.

 

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