It's fall ya'll! While many others may be thinking about leaves changing colors, a long-awaited break from the sweltering summer heat and switching over to a cozy, cute wardrobe, my mind is spinning with the one thing I know that has to be done before the cold sets in. Coop cleaning! Yeah. It’s a routine up here on the hobby farm. To prepare the flock for the winter, the coop needs to be thoroughly cleaned and dressed with fresh hay for the winter. So how do we do it? First, let me just say that this has probably been the absolute laziest summer we’ve had so far. I usually clean the coop about every two or three weeks in summer just to keep mites and critters out. This year, I mostly relied upon the deep litter method to keep down odor. With our crazy, busy schedule, it’s been difficult to be consistent. So back to the first step, get rid of the cob webs! Yeah. I am deathly afraid of spiders. And just as we attempt to make a cozy space for chickens to lay eggs where they are not in direct sunlight, and have a little privacy, we are essentially creating the perfect invitation for spiders. Huge ones. I see the Youtube videos and blogs with these pristine coops with gingham curtains and bright white walls. Our reality is not like that at all. At least not for busy families who are working full-time and shuttling kids from one activity to the next! We have cobwebs. Creepy ones! And before I can do anything, they gotta go. I keep a broom in the coop, but I wish I could use a vacuum. Chickens create an insane amount of dust Once the cobwebs are gone, we move the poop out. Once the overhead is clear, I use a large snow shovel and pitchfork to remove the old bedding. If you faithfully clean your coop at least twice a month, this would not take very long. However, when you’ve allowed the layers to build for several weeks or months, it can take an hour or so. It can easily turn into a two-day job for me. As chickens walk, they poop. While they sleep, they poop. They pretty much eat, peck and poop all day long. The great thing about all this poop is that after three months of rest, it will make great fertilizer for the garden! Don’t trash the poop! Add this mixture of poop and straw into our compost pile. Chicken manure takes about three months to break down, so it is safe for the garden. It is very high in nitrogen. Applied directly to your plants without this rest period could cause root burn. Sometimes the smell of ammonia can linger in the walls and wood. To eliminate the odor, I spray everything down with apple cider vinegar. The roosts are removed, sprayed and scraped, if necessary. For a citrus scent, add lemon and orange peels to apple cider vinegar and leave it for a week or two. Once everything dries, we add a fresh layer of straw or hay, and you’re done! I think they like it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a wife, mother, daughter, educator, writer and hobby farmer. Welcome to my world of simply living. Archives
December 2023
Categories
|