Friday, April 20, 2012

Spring Cleaning the Coop-

This post is linked to the 2nd Annual Hen House Hop.

The Saturday before Easter  I spent most of the day cleaning out the coop-

 

That week we had had a chicken snake make it’s way into the hen house …and The Honey ‘took him out’ 100_0719I’ve got a few pictures you can see the damage and the end results100_0775 This is the splintered wood after the shot gun blast inside the hen house… no chickens were harmed in the shooting of the snake. 100_0774 No EGGS were harmed in the shooting of the snake either. You can see the wood missing from the nest box…and the LAST EGG laid in that box. Still in tact!  Alas! No chicken will lay there now. 100_0905 Easter Saturday (the Saturday before Easter) I let the chickens out into the yard and got to cleaning! 100_0903 You can plainly see they enjoyed their time in the yard. 

100_0893 While they were out playing in the yard… I cleared out all the layers of dirt and hay. Man! was it stinky. As soon as I got in there with the hay fork and started turning the dirt… I knew it was definitely time to get the dirt out!  I was able to fill the bed liner almost all the way up with good rich dirt for the yards and planting areas.

100_0912

I used ‘lemon soap’ and bleach water and an old scrub brush with an extension wand on it, and scrubbed the dickens out of that coop.  I opened it all up;  let it air out and get really good and dry. I also sprinkled ‘food grade’ DE on the floor of the coop. (that is what the white powder is in the above photo) 100_0909In the mean time  While I played in the dirt and cleaned up the coop, The Honey cut some wood and placed some dividers in the laying boxes. That is something we never put into the coop when we originally built it. 100_0911After it dried out—I replaced the old shavings with new dry shavings. I sprinkled DE here,too. 100_0908

Now they have a nice clean bed in which to lay. I love this view looking through the coop.The only problem is…they want to sleep outside the hen house now. They won’t go in except to lay eggs.

After the snake was shot—they wouldn’t lay eggs in there. They were laying them in the yard. We left them in the coop for about 3 days after finding the nest of eggs near the back porch…and now they’re back to laying in the laying boxes. However, they don’t lay in the one that was shot up—now they lay all the way to the opposite end.

Funny little birds!

You can see Our Coop Beginnings Here at last years entry to the Hen House Hop—it’s a video. Enjoy!

 

The Grace of the LORD Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Phil 4:23

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

awe..the trials of raising chickens...it's great reading and you did a super job of cleaning it out....snakes are a pest...we got one in the house about 3-4 years ago...dang, it cost a heap of money to get it out...enjoy your new eggs for breakfast...Mel's Designs

Clint Baker said...

My grandma had a black snake crawl through a hole into one of the nesting boxes one time and eat the eggs! Thing was the hole was to small for the eggs to go through so he couldn't get out, lol!

Unknown said...

I never knew about chicken snakes Pat... What a pain! Your girls are smart.. they know trouble when they see it! I'm happy to hear things have settled down some and your coop looks great! Nice job!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

We get black water snakes here, but it's the mice that get into the barns. I'm so glad we have barn cats that love to catch them.

Marianne said...

Eow a snake in the hen house! You sure have been busy and the ladies got a nice fresh home now. Hopefully the trauma off the snake entering their house will soon be gone and they will start to enjoy their dwellings again.

Cindy said...

Hens are very smart, apparently.
Hugs, Cindy

Anonymous said...

I don't blame the girls for wanting to avoid their abode for a few days. I think I would have left for longer! Blessings, Debbie

The Boston Lady said...

I had no idea there were chicken snakes. I always learn something new from you! They are after the eggs or chickens? Those snakes! Love the clean coop and the new laying area. Those chicks are smart, they remember what happened. Don't call them bird brains.... Ann

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

Chicken snake...no wonder they don't want to go back in the coop! Looks like such a big job, but you made it look so fresh for the chickens!

A Daughter of the King said...

It is a good thing that you got the snake. Smart birds to be wary, huh?