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Tags
cleaning chicken coop, melting, new garage, roof, Snow, spring
I think Spring has finally come to the prairies. The sun is shining, there are puddles on the ground, and only three topics of conversation can be heard at any given coffee shop in the city: shoveling snow away from houses, shoveling snow off roofs, and what terrible shape the roads are in.
Here are a couple more signs around the homestead this week that Spring is finally sprung:
1. Boys get an urge to build things with wood. Will is helping Ryan build a desk for his condo out of walnut and plumbing parts. Sounds strange, I know, but I think it’s going to be totally awesome. The wood they picked out is gorgeous.
2. The Chicken Coop gets a scrub down. I clean the bedding out of the coop two or three times a year, usually November, March, and July. I scrape the wood chips out to be composted or tossed straight into the garden, then I spray the walls with vinegar and rinse with hot water. I actually climb right into the coop and make sure every bit of poop gets scrubbed off. Then fresh new bedding gets tossed in and the girls are happy again.
(Someone’s been pecking at poor Ginger’s neck feathers. It’s a real soap opera in the coop these days. I think Scruff is trying to oust Liesl from the position of top hen, and meanwhile Ginger sits all alone most of the day. We have to get her another friend to play with this Spring)
3. The garage leaks like a sieve despite all our best efforts. Will went up to shovel the snow off the roof yesterday, and put his hand through the roof. Eep. Guess we can’t put it off any longer – we need a new garage. We shut off the breaker to the garage because there is literally water streaming down the walls. It’s not good. This is how you kiss $10,000 goodbye. We need to tighten up our budget and save our pennies.
I hope Spring has come to your neck of the woods!
Nice post, I was wondering how often a coop should be cleaned out. How thick a bed of woodchips do you lay down? Do you add more till the next clean-out? I was thinking of starting my own coop this Spring. Do you have a place to buy a few chicks or pullets? Dan
>________________________________ > From: Dreambles >To: teacherk@yahoo.com >Sent: Monday, April 1, 2013 7:14 AM >Subject: [New post] Signs of Spring > > > WordPress.com >Jamie Lee posted: “I think Spring has finally come to the prairies. The sun is shining, there are puddles on the ground, and only three topics of conversation can be heard at any given coffee shop in the city: shoveling snow away from houses, shoveling snow off roofs, and” >
Hi Dan – I use the deep liter method, meaning I usually start with a couple inches of woodchips (pine only), and keep adding a small bucket of fresh chips on top every week until it’s about six or seven inches deep. The stuff at the bottom starts to decompose, which helps break down the poop and add heat to the coop. We got our chickens off kijiji – there are several sellers on there in the spring. We bought pullets because we wanted to make sure we didn’t get any roosters, but that means you’ll pay extra. If you want to buy day old chicks, you can check a feed store or a local hatchery. I totally encourage to start a coop – keeping chickens has been an awesome experience for us – we love our girls!
Okay, numbers 1 and 2 in your list? Right there with you. Two weekends ago, I did the muck out/deep clean/sloshing of massive amounts of water/wishing I had a respirator in the chicken coop. Then this past weekend, Chris dug six giant holes in the ground and cemented in the post-holes for our new garden fence. SPRING IS HERE, CHILDREN!!!
Yay, SPRING! Cleaning the coop is disgusting yet oddly satisfying. For about two days. And then they go and poop on the walls. And there’s nothing worse than the smell of chicken poop mixed with vinegar. Nothing.
Hi, it is with sadness that we are saying goodbye to what has been a loooonnng hot summer here in NZ, I have read your blog with great delight and know you are aching for warmth….so with that in mind, let us take it (winter) from here 🙂
Oh Lucy! What a lovely thing to say 🙂
I hope you had a wonderful summer and soaked up the heat to get you through the winter. I am longing for warmth, and I can hardly wait for it to return. I wish you a mild and tolerable winter!
I love walnut so any desk with that sounds divine.
As to cleaning out the coop, in Montana that will come much later, when it warms up. We scrub it down to the “bare” walls. On odd years we put another coat of yellow paint up. This is an odd year so it will be a full court press cleaning.
My garage I am happy to report is safe and sturdy. Unfortunately I have a a deck that is disaster. Unfortunately we have reached the point where it is no longer safe. It is coming off this year and being replaced with a much small version, so that is where my saved pennies will go.
Will made our living room coffee table out of an unfinished slab of walnut, all by hand – no nails, screws or power tools! It’s gorgeous. I’ll find a picture for you.
That’s too bad about your deck. I find these home Reno projects frustrating because of the money they cost, but I always enjoy the finished project.