Poop Happens

Time to Redefine our Lives in Oregon

Poop Happens

July 12, 2015

Written by tntdreaming

Some days….my life seems like it’s all about the poop. Seriously….when you have multiple animals, you’ve got to stay on top of it…hahaha!

I recently discovered an amazing way to stay on top of the incredible nightly chicken house poop accumulation. No joke….they sleep and poop, poop and sleep….at the same time….in huge amounts. I try not to capture the results of their evening….activities…..when I post pictures because…welll….who really wants to see that??!! (Sorry about the picture above.)

I’ve tried to manage it all with pine shavings, works pretty well….straw (never again will I use straw) Creepy Crawlies….YUCK! …. and dusting the floor with DE (livestock food grade diatomaceous earth.) Shavings, and straw are very labor intensive when it’s time to clean, and there is a point where the production of ammonia is just inevitable….so whether it was on your schedule that day to muck out the hen house….if you start detecting ammonia….cleaning day moves to the top of the chore list. DE floor dusting (very thin layer) actually worked pretty well….it dried out the droppings pretty well. The most difficult things with this method were the “splat” factor, resulting in the need scrape the floor a bit. Other than that, things generally cleaned up with a shovel and a broom.

Then….I found this……

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/460352393133899588/

Amazing idea!!! So, Tony decided to build it!!

It didn’t take too much convincing……

Although our local farm store did not carry the Sweet PDZ granules that the Pintrest poster spoke of….this product…

…has very similar ingredients, and works amazingly!! Seriously…I feel like my life has been liberated from the drudge of the frequent mucking out of the chicken house!!! I’m a happy, Tami!!!

Literally, I take a cat litter box scooper, and scoop the poop right out of the poop tray!! The effort is so minimal its amazing (ok…I know I’ve used that word several times this post, but it actually is AMAZING!!) The beauty of this product is that it has the benefit of DE which will eliminate any fly that lands in the poop box (DE dries out their exoskeleton, and dun, dun, dun, no more fly) yet, it is not as lightly powered so there is not near as much dust. I’m so excited!!