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7 Jan ’14
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We just purchased our dream homestead that comes with a nice big chicken coop, which is exciting. What's NOT exciting is that it's been left in a pretty dirty state. We've never owned chickens or a coop before, so need advice on how to start cleaning this sucker out, and what products are recommended for cleaning solutions, bedding, or really any other info/insight. I feel bad for the chickens as it does smell in there, and the previous owner had a fairly large number of chickens he raised, but ran out of time to give it a good cleaning in some time. I believe it's a dirt floor, but it's hard to say since it's covered in layers of chicken poop. Poor girls. I've been reading that vinegar works great, but I wasn't sure whether that would work with a dirt floor.
This is pretty high on my list of "to-do's" once the weather warms up a bit more, so any help is more than welcome!
Thanks!
25 Oct ’12
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I would just clean it with a pitchfork and rake/shovel. Then spread lime all over the floor and cover with pine shavings/hay.
Good as new!!! 
15 Feb ’12
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use a face mask and grab a shovel. I would then spray the whole thing down with bleach solution. Then let it dry and air out. Whitewashing the interior wouldn't be a bad thing, but it would need to be done ever year or so for touch ups, pork shows here how he whitewashed his fence
http://thehomesteadi.....den-fence/
A majority of poop from a chicken comes when it is roosting, a poop hammock is a easy way to control it and clean it
http://thehomesteadi.....-chickens/
I use straw throughout the coop and pitchfork it into the compost bin weekly and change it. You can use just about anything, just make sure it isn't dusty due to respiratory issues that chickens are susceptible to
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jonathco25 Oct ’12
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^^^^ Even better......
7 Jan ’14
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I'm a little hesitant to use bleach, but wasn't sure if it was sort of the only way. Also, it would appear there are layers of poop, would that be safe to compost, or would it be too high in unhealthy toxins for composting?
Thanks for the tips/aadvice! This all seems overwhelming from time to time, so the direction is definitely more than welcomed!
15 Feb ’12
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there are some natural disinfectants you can make if you prefer not to use bleach. If there is a lot of poop, I would be concerned with nitrogen overload in the compost pile
7 Jan ’14
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That's kind of what I was afraid of. Might be best to just clear the old out, then start with fresh poop for composting. That way we at least know what we're working with. I'm not sure how long it's been unclean, and there were upwards of 60 chickens in this coop before we moved in. You can imagine the amount of poop that's compiled.
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