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clean out chicken coops

6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less

Home » 6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less

April 11, 2020 (Updated: February 7, 2023)

Cleaning the chicken coop was really exiting when we started with only six chickens. We have a nice easy to reach coop.

But, as many of us realize, chickens are kind of addicting. If you haven’t started with chickens yet, I warned you. 🙂

Cleaning a chicken coop is pretty simple and if you keep up with it, it won’t take much time at all.

Today I’m going to share with you six tips to clean the chicken coop in 10 minutes or less.

6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less

If you are thinking about bringing home chicks for the first time check out or pin some of these:

backyard chicken planner
  • The Easy Way for Your Chickens to Love Your New Chicks
  • How to Get Your Chickens To Stay in a New Coop
  • What to Do With Chickens When on Vacation
  • 15 Inspiring Reasons Why Your Kids Should Raise Chickens
  • 15 Frugal Household Items You Can Use For Your Chickens

I like to two specific tools for cleaning out our current coop. Our old coop all I needed was one item.

If you haven’t purchased your chicken coop or built one- consider these tips to get started.

6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less
Side note. The Water and food does not sit on the wood, this was temporary. We used an old chain link to hang it up see below.

I switched our coop over to sand when we started building it last year. Here is how to get started with sand and why we love it.

The first is a garden hoe. I use this to scrap off the roosts and sides of the coop. In our old coop it was the easiest to push out the bedding from the top part.

6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less
Yes we use sand in our coop and usually add a bunch of new sand each Spring. Right now we are really only making essential trips so I’ll be adding more straw until we can shop normally again.

The second must have item is a muck fork. If you want a little humor you can see how much I love it in my Tiktok video below- wait until the end.

Items Needed:

  • Wheelbarrow
  • Muck Fork
  • Garden Hoe
@thefrugalfarmgirl

love my ##minipig got in it! ##savage ##homestead ##goats ##piggy ##momsover30 ##over30 ##homesteadlife ##yougogirl ##momlife

♬ original sound – thefrugalfarmgirl
6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less

The first thing you need to do is scrap off all the nasty from the roosts and the sides. Don’t forget to scrap out those nesting boxes. I use the hoe for this too and it works well. We have one nesting box out of the four that a hen likes to sleep in.

6 Tips To Clean The Chicken Coop in 10 mins or less

If you can get a hose in it, I recommend doing it every season. I don’t bring the hose into our new chicken coop, because we use sand.

Instead I bring out a scrub brush and a bucket. I fill the bucket with Murphy’s oil soap and scrub it down. I like to do this in the spring and fall. This isn’t a get it sparkling clean deal. Its a give it a good quick scrub and be done.

Then let it air dry. If you don’t have Murhpy’s oil soap vinegar with a few lavender and lemon essential oils is a great mix too. ( You can see the cheap but effective oils I use here)

After it’s dried for a few hours clean out all the nasty stuff from the bottom.

After cleaning up the chicken manure, I like to sprinkle in a coop deodorizer.

I got a few bags of this Ware Manufacturing coop control on clearance at our local Tractor supply, but when I’m not getting a deal my go to is the Horse PDZ or the Chicken PDZ.

PIN: How to Vacation When You Have Chickens & No One to Watch Them

The horse PDZ is cheaper but I found in the summertime the Chicken PDZ really helped with smell.

This is all up to you, and your level of cheapness and manure smell in the summertime 🙂

I sprinkle it in the most poopy places. Which in ours ends up being the corners.

This is how you are able to clean out your coop weekly in under 10 minutes.

After you’ve done a major clean out, it should take you TEN minutes each week to clean out your coop by removing soiled bedding and cleaning off the nesting boxes.

After that I add new sand- I only do this once a year. Otherwise with a quick clean out I’ll push the sand around to cover up the coop refresher. Think of it like cleaning out the liter box. I’m a fan of this over all that pine bedding I had to keep buying and even straw.

In the winter time I add a little straw to one side. We pasture raise our chickens. Which means for the newbies, they have access to our entire yard. And yes it comes with ups and downs.

I hope this helps encourage you that chickens are one of the best first livestock choices. To see my other best animals to start with tap here.

RECAP OF HOW TO CLEAN YOU COOP IN 10 MINUTES

  • Every other day scrap off your roost with the hoe. In a sand coop scoop the corners where your birds roost.
  • Add a little fresh straw to the nesting beds.
  • Wipe out waterer and refill- check food dish for any poop.
  • Free range your chickens for less time cleaning the coop out.
  • Add PDZ or coop refresher weekly
  • Compost soiled bedding

Before you go pin these:

  • How to Stop Chickens From Eating Their Eggs
  • How to Turn A Trampoline into a Chicken Coop and Still Jump on It!
  • 8 Adorable Chicken Coop Gardening Ideas
  • 15 Ways to Keep Chickens Cool in Hot Summer Weather
  • How to Make the Perfect Chicken Dust Bath
clean out chicken coops
Category: Chickens, Raise Your Own
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About Tasia

Welcome! I have desired my own backyard farm since I was a girl. I started a frugal crazy couponing lifestyle that allowed us to pay off our debt, create an online business and purchase our farmhouse and land. Join me as I share everything we are learning with you to encourage and inspire your dreams.

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Comments

  1. Maria

    March 30, 2025 at 4:52 pm

    LOVE your site!

    We are going to get chicks again, but have never used sand in my coop. What kind of sand do you recommend us using?

    Thank you in advance!

    Reply
    • Tasia

      April 13, 2025 at 6:50 pm

      Nice! Use construction sand. Not fine play sand.

      Reply

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