Coop Cleaning

This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment armed with antimite spray ready to do battle with the coop. I had borrowed a pressure spray contraption from Cliff to make the job faster. It’s an important job but it always seems to take forever to do.

Before I started, I checked on Pop and Leia. It was great to see Pop go from sitting to standing by herself without wobbling too much. I collected an egg from Leia and cleaned the floor. It’s really important to clean out any poo each day to ensure the chickens stay healthy.

Down in the main coop, I threw out the treats to keep them busy whilst I made a start on removing the old bedding in the nest box. When I took the old bedding to the compost bin, I discovered a tiny surprise. Opening up the lid, I looked down and saw a small brown mouse staring back at me. We looked at each other for a few seconds before it disappeared.

Using the spray cans and the pressure spray, I thoroughly dowsed the entire coop, my ever move watched closely by Aggie. I plan to do the same a couple more times over the next two weeks to ensure there are no mites remaining. I left the perches to soak for an hour on each end as mites tend to prefer to hide here. After saturating the nest box, I left it to dry and spent some time sitting with Leia and Pop and feeding them with fresh kale leaves.

By the time the coop was dry, it was quite late. I quickly replaced the bottom boards and added a thick layer of new bedding. As I worked, I heard a strange scratching noise and found Cassie was responsible. She was scratching and turning in circles like she was about to lay. Intrigued, I watched as she sat on the top of the large nest box and proceeded, after several interruptions from Tommy and Aggie, to lay an egg! It was great to confirm that our new girls are finally in lay.

With the coop all cleaned and covered in dirt from head to toe, I did a final check on Pop and Leia. Put of the corner of my eye, I spotted a furry face looking into the greenhouse. There are lots of different visiting cats who do an excellent job of keeping down the rodent population. The cat ran off before I could stroke it. I walked back home, pleased with today’s work.