Saturday, May 26, 2007

Cleaning the Chicken Coop

for those who care to know.....

First, put on your old clothes, boots, and a bandana around your neck. Throw a scoop shovel and hoe into the bucket of the John Deere and drive over to the coop. Open the door and let all the hens out, pick up the feeders, water buckets, feed sacks and throw them all outdoors. Remove any eggs from nests to a pail to take home later. Pull bandana up around your nose and mouth. Scrape out nests with the hoe and loosen manure and dirt out of all the corners. Grab the scoop shovel and get everything that's loose shoveled out and throw it into the tractor bucket. This is the REAL Shoveling-Out-the-House. Heave it in till the floor is as clean as possible. Sprinkle floor with fresh wood shavings and baking soda. Replace fresh hay in nests. Wash buckets and feeders with soap and water and refill with new feed. Wash windows. If you want to do a deep-cleaning, spray down the walls of the coop with bleach or ammonia in a hose-end sprayer. Allow to dry out before replacing bedding. Repeat three times a year or more according to your standard of cleanliness. Dump the tractor bucket and go home to take a hot shower.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like good eXercise! Inquiring minds must know...what is the baking soda (miXed with woodchips) for?

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  2. Look at all them chooks! We call chickens, 'chooks' in Australia. I dare not have any chickens, as the foxes would get them. Need my husband to create a fox proof hen house. (one day) I used to have pet chickens, Maxine and Isabelle, that used to lay their eggs in the cat basket and also share my morning coffee with me! lol Must blog them!

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  3. What a very stinky job this is! We have to clean our coop again, too. But we just use a wheelbarrow and no tractor. Love the black & white chicken!

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  4. You have a beautiful life. Thanks for keeping the traditions alive.
    -donetta

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  5. I am so glad that I can enjoy my neighbor's chickens without having to clean the coop!
    Lucky you though, you will have the reward of all those lovely fresh eggs!

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  6. I don't miss my chickens at all when I read this. I miss them when I am working out in the flowerbeds and think about how the birds used to follow me around while I was outside. But I dont' miss the mess at all.

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  7. Well, I definitely think that the bandana sounds more fashionable than the white dust masks I wear! ;) I'm also going to try the baking soda. Thanks for the tip!
    Debbie

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