Poop management

Chicken poop = hen manure = compost = black gold = quality fertilizer

There are many prejudices about chicken manure because people have unpleasant memories after visiting farms or poorly ventilated places. If you have 3-5 urban chickens with the right products, there should be no strong odours or very little odour. By removing the small droppings every day at night, and the droppings from the floor, like in a cat litter box, your hen house will be clean. In nature, hens perch in tall trees and are not exposed to odours and ammonia at all. Always keep your hen house very clean. Never accumulate droppings. They must be removed every day and your hens will be healthy. Be courteous to your neighbors and always act responsibly.

Here is a summary of the normal and abnormal types of droppings of our hens that will pass different types of droppings during the day.

 Regular feces :

A droppings consisting of solid feces and urine. So, the digested matter becomes the faeces which will be solid, with shades of brown to grey and a small cover of white which are the salts of the urea. A healthy hen will pass a good dozen of these types of droppings during the day. All of the droppings below are normal.

Liquid droppings :

If a hen drinks a lot, eats fruit, melon, tomatoes, she can pass more liquid droppings with a little white. If her diet has not changed and she only passes this kind of droppings all day, she may have excess protein, salt or kidney problems. Nipple drinkers allow her to drink small amounts more often and prevent over-fluid droppings. They better mimic the type of drinking that hens had in their natural environment.

Cecal droppings :

These droppings are normal and are expelled at about every 8-10 droppings. The hens have different intestines and some of them digest the fermenting cellulose, among other things. These droppings will often be of a more foamy texture, like brown or sometimes greenish pudding. They smell stronger and they do not always have a white cover.

Broody hen droppings :

These droppings are similar to regular droppings but will be larger because broody hens tend to hold and release less droppings during the day.

Pink droppings with fabric:

These droppings may occur occasionally and should not be confused with blood droppings. They are the walls of the intestines that regenerate and exfoliate the inner surface. However, very large amounts of tissue would not be normal.

Feces with blood :

These droppings are not normal. Your hen may have coccidiosis. Isolate it immediately and consult your nearest veterinarian.

In summary, your poultry house should never smell bad if you pick up droppings at night and use the right products to ensure good hygiene and health of your hens.

If you have a compost bin, the hen droppings mixed with the wood rip are an excellent source of nitrogen and facilitate the composting of carbon-rich materials. Generally, there are no contraindications to put chicken droppings in the garbage just like you do with dog excrement and cat litter. These are in negligible quantities compared to animal centers, pet shops and large surface area producers.