What To Do With Chicken Coop Waste

Inside: During the spring and summer we clean the coops more due to the rainy season. We may accrue a whole lot of chicken coop waste. Here's what to do with it.

If you're raising chickens, you already know that with fresh eggs comes a whole lot of chicken poop. Managing chicken waste might not be the most glamorous part of backyard poultry keeping, but it’s crucial for the cleanliness of your coop, the health of your flock, and even your garden’s soil quality. Whether you're using the deep litter method or cleaning regularly, knowing what to do with all that soiled bedding and poultry litter makes a big difference.

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What To Do With Chicken Coop Waste

Here are several effective ways to handle your backyard chicken coop bedding and turn waste into something useful.

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Use the Deep Litter Method During the Winter Months

The deep litter method is a popular system among backyard chicken keepers, especially in colder climates. Instead of removing all the bedding during the winter, you add fresh bedding material—such as pine shavings or wood chips—on top of the soiled bedding. This base layer starts to decompose over time, producing beneficial microbes and gentle warmth for your flock.

It’s a great way to reduce waste disposal during winter while helping retain heat in the floor of the coop. Just make sure the moisture content is balanced to avoid harmful bacteria buildup.

Compost Your Chicken Waste

Turning chicken poop into nutrient-rich compost is hands-down the best way to deal with it. Chicken litter is an excellent organic material for your compost pile. Thanks to its high nitrogen content (the “green stuff”) combined with bedding like wood shavings (the “brown material”), it creates ideal conditions for the decomposition process.

Add your chicken manure compost to a designated compost bin or pile. Layer it with kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, or green leaves to improve the composting process. After a year, you’ll have black gold—perfect for use in your vegetable gardens or flower beds.

Pro Tip: Let fresh chicken manure age for a year before using it in your garden to avoid excess nitrogen and prevent plants from burning.

Can You Use It in the Garden Right Away?

Using fresh chicken manure or raw manure directly in your garden soil is a good idea only in the off-season. Apply it to your garden after your final harvest in the fall or at least three months before planting in spring. This gives the manure time to break down and prevents damage to leafy greens and other sensitive crops.

Backyard chickens manure is considered hot compost due to its high nitrogen levels, and if not composted properly, it may lead to health issues, excess nitrogen, and even potential exposure to E. coli.

Sell or Give Away Chicken Litter

Believe it or not, a lot of people are willing to pay for chicken manure compost. It’s an excellent soil amendment, and many gardeners in the United States know its value. Bag your poultry litter in used feed bags and offer it for sale locally or in gardening forums and community boards.

Don’t want to sell it? Just give it away. Backyard chicken owners often have more manure than they can use, and others will gladly take it off your hands.

Bag It Up for Garbage Collection

If you're in an urban area or manage a very small flock, waste disposal via the trash might be your most convenient option. Bag up the chicken waste—ideally in reused feed sacks—and check with your local waste services. While many allow wood chips in yard waste bins, not all accept animal waste, so it’s best to ask.

Being mindful and tidy about this helps avoid unpleasant odors and is respectful to sanitation workers.

Dump It (Smartly)

If you have the space, setting up a manure pile on your property is another effective way to manage soiled bedding and waste. We maintain a chicken waste dump pile well away from the chicken run and coops. Over time, natural fertilizer forms as nature does the decomposition for you.

To avoid attracting pests, always remove food waste or broken eggs before dumping. Over time, this can become a rich source of organic matter for future use.

Keep the Coop Clean Year-Round

During the wet litter seasons—especially spring and summer—it’s important to clean the chicken coop more often.

Rain increases moisture levels, which can lead to heat stress, bacteria growth, and health problems. Use absorbent bedding like pine shavings or dry sand, and keep the nest boxes and droppings boards tidy.

Frequent cleaning also reduces unpleasant odors, promotes happy chickens, and helps maintain better soil structure when the litter is eventually composted.

Managing backyard chicken coop bedding and waste doesn’t have to be a chore. With the right methods, it can actually become a great compost solution, a way to build your garden soil, or even a product to share with others. Whether you're composting, dumping, selling, or bagging, dealing with chicken droppings the right way improves the cleanliness of your coop, the health of your birds, and the soil quality in your yard.

Taking a little time to create a plan for your chicken litter can make all the difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often do you clean poop out of chicken coop? Chicken poop contains bacteria and should be removed from the chicken coop weekly. Use a trowel to scoop or scrape it from the dropping boards, and add it to your compost.

What happens if you don't clean a chicken coop? If you don't clean your chicken coop regularly, bacteria and other diseases can grow in the coop. This can make your chickens sick.