Why Keeping Your Chicken Coop Clean Is So Important

Keeping your chicken coop clean is important. You don't want parasites and disease affecting you chickens or their eggs. Keeping those issues at bay will reduce the stress that could affect your flock. A clean environment always allows for better results.

We all know that clean is better in everything humankind does, whether it is the smooth hull on a sail boat that slips cleanly through the water after being scrapped clean of barnacles, replacing a plugged up gas line filter in an automobile to improve engine speed and power, tap water filtered of chlorine in a cozy home or a hot shower after a hard day's work. We just feel better when know we have clean.

Would it surprise you to know that for many animals it is the samethey prefer clean to dirty and chickens are no different? Now if you pen animals in with their own filth they will tolerate it, but give them a choice they will choose to be clean and will distance themselves from dirty conditions. So when keeping animals penned it is up to you to maintain their living areas in a reasonable state of cleanliness and that goes for the chicken coop as well.

To keep the coop clean you have to change the bedding material--wood chips or straw once it becomes dirty or damp. Make sure the nesting boxes are oriented in a way to keep the hens from sleeping on them. This decreases the chance of them defecating in the nesting boxes. Chicken urine isn't a thin liquid, but a kind of thick paste and as with all urine there is the danger of ammonia build-up which if left un-checked can cause respiratory problems in the birds.

How often do you need to clean the coop? It might sound flip, but the answer is-- as often as required. Sometimes you will need to do it more often than at other times. A thorough top to bottom cleaning is recommended about twice a year. That's when you pull everything out and scrub down all the surfaces with disinfectant. Rinse completely and dry thoroughly going over all the surfaces, walls, the ceiling, floors, all the cracks and cerviceseverything! That is really keeping your chicken coop clean.

Because of this necessity, it is a very good idea to design 'cleaning access' into the coop before you build it, to make this part of looking after your birds as simple as possible.

In conclusionkeeping your chicken coop clean will make your birds happy and contented. You will have fewer problems with parasites and/or disease. You will get better meat and eggs because your birds living in a clean environment and will suffer less stress.

For more information about keeping a clean chicken coop visit Jasper White's website at Chicken Coop Center.Com for generous guidance on the--planning, building, and maintenance of chicken coops.