June/July is a great time to clean the chicken coop! Before the heat of summer really kicks in and as soon as the mints and other aromatic herbs are mostly full grown.
We use wood shavings and straw. It works great for the hens, and makes cleaning easy! Having 5 to 7 hens we clean out the coop twice a year late spring, and mid fall.
Lil Man and I shoveling out the old, dirty straw and wood shavings
The dirty coop. (This may be too graphic for some, but we are farm people, so you deal with poop no matter what!)
Miss E hauling over the wood shavings. She's making faces because I asked if she wants to trade jobs...she said no.
Ah the glamorous life of a homesteader! Note the gloves, and yes I'm wiping chicken poo off my legs.
The fresh, clean coop, the nesting boxes are buckets that we screwed to the wood shelf. They are the perfect size for a hen to lay in.
The kids are then off to gather fresh herbs for the bedding. We have learned that having fresh herbs that will eventually dry, keep bugs and pests away, help the coop to smell good and we think make the hens happy. Who doesn't love a fresh, clean smelling home?!
We use whatever is big and healthy, that includes, lavender, various mints, thyme, oregano, fennel, and rosemary. The girls cut each sprig into 3 to 5 " sections and spread it out all over the coop and nesting boxes.
A few weeks ago we had a neighbor's dog dig under our fence and kill two hens and injured two others that had to be put down. It was devastating! The kids were upset, I was pissed, and the neighbors felt awful. In the end they reimbursed us for the four that we lost, and we bought these lovely young ladies, two Black Alstroup, Lucy and Glossy, one leghorn, Sparkling white, and a gold lace Wyandotte, Wild Style. They should start laying in August and we are happy that our flock is growing and doing well.
Here are the new girls with Mabell
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