Spring Cleaning

It's that time of the year...the weather's right and the chickens are excited:

It's time to clean out the chicken coop:

While the coop has been cleaned out many times over the last year, this is the first intensive, top-to-bottom, hosed-out, everything-scrubbed cleaning that it has received since it was finished being built last April.

A thorough cleaning was desperately needed:

There were many cobwebs:

Dust and feathers:

All the nooks and crannies were needing to be swept out:

So, I took out the windows and made them sparkling again:

I washed and scrubbed their roost:

Boppity had delayed her morning egg-laying and was now quite agitated that brooms and shovels were disturbing her when she had an egg to lay:

Dottie, also on a mission to lay, had to thoroughly inspect the out-going shavings on her way into the coop:

Typical Dot: always thinking the grass is greener over in somebody else's nest box:

Do you notice anything about this picture? Look closely:

How about now? Um, yes...there's Dottie! She was quite certain that Boppity's nest box was better than hers and just pushed her way right in:

The funny thing is, Boppity let her in! Normally, there would have been a tremendous amount of outraged chicken chatter:

Who knows what goes on in this girl's mind?:

Regardless, Boppity had had enough of the nonsense and left the coop in a huff:

Dottie was tickled to win. She never wins:

Now, a bit of time had passed and I noticed it had gotten awfully quiet. Ten of my eleven chickens had all disappeared. I came upon this disturbing scene up by the corner of the house:

It looks like a bunch of dead chickens, doesn't it? Not to worry, they're simply reveling in a barkdust dust bath. Clearly I was the only one doing any work today.

Meanwhile...back at the coop...Dot decided she didn't want that other nest box after all:

Reggie and Pete came by for a look-see:

They gave the coop a thorough once-over and declared it sorely lacking in anything good to eat:

So, there was nothing left to do but start putting things back together. The roost was replaced and dusted with a layer of DE (diatomaceous earth) to prevent mites, reduce flies and act as a chicken poop drying agent:

The nest boxes had been scrubbed, DE sprinkled here, too, and fresh shavings put in:

Oyster shell and grit bowls were scrubbed and refilled:

The feeder and waterer were washed thoroughly:

Everything was sparkling clean and ready for chickens again:

There was some poultry suspicion upon returning to the coop:

I guess chickens don't hold cleanliness as high as I do.