Easy-to-Clean Chicken Coop

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Photo by Fotolia/Ivonne Wierink
A removable chicken coop floor makes transporting manure from coop to compost easier than ever before.

I inherited four laying hens and an 8-by-8-foot chicken shed. To keep the chicken coop’s floor clean, I place a used piece of linoleum under the hens’ roosting poles (because that’s where manure accumulates at night). I then throw a little straw on the linoleum and dust it with diatomaceous earth to keep the smell and flies at bay.

Each week, I pull out the manure-covered linoleum, loosely fold it in half, and empty it into my compost pile. I can then easily place the clean linoleum back under the hens’ roost and re-cover it with straw and diatomaceous earth. All evidence of a mess disappears, and I don’t even have to get my hands dirty. The chicken shed stays remarkably clean and free of noxious odors, and my compost pile gets a nice nitrogen boost to boot.

Celene Ellingson
Centralia, Washington

  • Published on Jan 7, 2016
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