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How do I keep my chickens clean?

Mrs Squeaky CleanChickens 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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200 Comments

  1. Hello all,
    I just came across this forum and I wonder if someone has an advice for me. We have 2 hens with 9 chicks, two days old. Now I found that we have a huge mite problem. What can I do without harming the chicks?
    Thanks!

  2. I have 4 or 5 chickens that like to sleep in the nest boxes it makes me crazy, so I have been sneaking in at night and lifting the chickens onto their perch, in hope of training them to say out of the boxes at night. So far no sucess!

  3. Fiona Nevile

    Hi Richard

    If I knew the answer to your question I’d be doing handstands in the garden, or at least attempting them…

    We have the same problem. I suspect the reason is that some hens, like us, need a bit more privacy.

    I put loads of hay in the nesting box so it’s easy to hoick out the poo in the morning and not let it fowl the eggs.

  4. Hi
    I was wondering if anyone had the answer to my problem – How can I stop the chickens from sleeping in the nest boxes in the chicken house.
    They do have 2 perches to use but prefer the nest boxes – and then fill them up with poo!

  5. Fiona Nevile

    Hi DeAnne,

    Thanks for the tip. There is an interesting link here – re the possible dangers of using silica.

  6. DeAnne Dingwall

    Diatomaceous earth solves all mite problems. It is fine, fine, fine particles of silica from ancient ocean sand.Sprinkle on roost ends and wherever mites can hide. Harmless to chicks but cuts the bugs up both externally and internally. I also successfully used it to rid my fishing worm beds of mites. No harm to worms either.
    The torch sounds a bit radical!

  7. Fiona Nevile

    Hi Anne,

    I am switching over to the plastic drinkers as well. Sometimes the water freezes during the day in very cold weather. It takes longer for this to happen with our giant plastic water fountain.

  8. anne waller

    thanx for the advice. having had my fingers stick to the metal again this morning i am going to get a plastic drinker asap!! my fingers are still recovering……………… the chickens heard some choice language today…… not nice for such well bred girls…..

  9. Fiona Nevile

    Hi Anne,

    The first winter that I had chickens I battled with freezing water in the drinking fountains.

    I discovered that a fountain kept inside the chicken house was less likely to freeze.

    Now I bring a fountain in to the kitchen overnight and swap it with the one in the run in the morning. Also I switch to large plastic drinking fountains in the winter as they are much easier to deal with if the water has frozen inside them.

  10. anne waller

    i know that this is not strictly about keeping chix clean but it is re: husbandry in general.
    does anyone have any tips about how to stop the metal drinkers from freezing in this cold weather?
    having just spent half an hour with a can of boiling water trying to de-frost 3 drinkers i could do with some tips that are tried and tested. the glycerin that i put into the water last night has frozen along with the water. maybe i need to put more in – but it is not cheap and i could only buy it in small bottles.
    all advice gratefully received.
    thanx

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