Cleaning out your chicken coop, while not the most glamorous way to spend a Saturday, is one of those tasks that brings so much satisfaction.
I aim to do this two times a year, usually Spring and Fall. Like most everything, I am running a tad behind schedule. How often you need to do it depends on how many chickens and how much space you have. I’ve read that if there’s a smell, it’s time to clean.
It’s one of those chores I build up in my mind and then when I actually do it, it takes like two hours and isn’t that bad. I will say this is a task for a COVID mask. The cobwebs, dust, debris, and whatever else you want to think is in a chicken coop are not things you want to inhale.
I follow these general steps for my coop cleaning:
Remove all waterers and feeders.
Empty wood shavings from nesting boxes onto the ground.
Rake and shovel out the top 3-5″ of ground cover. I haul it away in a wheelbarrow to a pile outside my garden to use as compost in my garden. Depending on how big your coop is, this could be 1-2 loads or many more.
I re-layer the ground with 3-5″ of fresh wood chips and fill the nesting boxes with fresh wood shavings.
I don’t know about you but my ladies are in low production mode. I’m hoping this helps them get more cozy for the winter.
If I asked you to close your eyes and picture a smart, regal, gentlemanly, and protective farm animal, what comes to mind? A horse. A duck. A cat. All of those answers could be correct, but it’s not the one I’m thinking about.
Last November I started looking online for a new canine member to join our family. As you may recall, that is how we came to have Molly (aka Ms. Mess – she is the messiest and most bizarre eater I have ever come across but that is a story for another day). As I was searching, I regularly checked our county’s animal control and adoption center. I kept seeing a rooster in their listings and told myself if he was still available for adoption at the end of the year, I would go see him. Well, you’ll never guess what happened…
I had the week off between Christmas and New Year’s so on December 30 I made an appointment to go meet him with my girls. I told them they would decide if we applied to adopt him based on what they thought of his personality and temperament. I wanted them to have a vote in the process and to be sure they would still feel comfortable going in the chicken coop (with supervision, of course). I had to like him too.
The staff who took us to his kennel said we were the first people to visit him and he had been there since October. So sad! He was being kept in the most isolated kennel so that dogs weren’t right next to him. This meant he was in the far back corner with three out of four walls made of concrete, a chain link fence entrance, and fluorescent lighting. No natural light whatsoever. And I don’t mean this in any way to denigrate the conditions – it was clean, he had a perch, and food. My point is this was far from an ideal chicken habitat and I immediately felt sorry for him.
The woman walked in the kennel and picked him right up like he was a bunny. I was so amazed. She said he was friendly and easy to be around and hadn’t been aggressive at all. The girls petted his neck feathers and quickly lost interest, then went to check out other dogs in nearby kennels. I asked the staff member some questions about his demeanor and other things she knew about rooster behavior. Honestly, I didn’t have much beyond “Is he an a-hole?” because I’ve dealt with the man fighters and didn’t want that again. She didn’t seem to think this was his personality but of course you can’t be sure until he’s in a flock and his territorial instincts kick in.
I filled out an application and they said we might hear back as soon as the next day, December 31 but more likely Monday, January 4. I was kind of like, “Umm, he’s had no visitors in three months… what do you need to verify?” but it was totally fine. They wanted to confirm that my other pets are licensed and vaccinated as proof that I’m not a horrible pet owner. I get it.
Over the weekend I watched a bunch of rooster taming videos and got an idea of how I would approach being the alpha rooster. On Monday we got the call that we were approved to adopt him and I went to go get him. We kept him isolated from the flockers for five days and each day I spent time picking him up and carrying him around so that we could bond. It was grand! I’m being 100% serious. It was a really good confidence builder for me and I think made him realize I’m in charge. Ha!
I’m not in complete agreement with how he has his way with the ladies, but he lets them eat first and seems to put himself between the flock and the cats when they wander into the coop so I think he’s doing a good job.
And now, without further ado, [drum roll please <<dddrrrrdddrrrdddrrrddd>>], it gives me great pleasure to introduce my new flock of eight Bovan Brown Beauties. There’s been more chicken tragedies at Farm Charm in our first two years than I’d like to admit, but I am determined to turn things around. I don’t take it lightly at all and truly felt horrible after my beloved Leghorns and Wyandottes met their fate in the form of a fox that I didn’t protect them from #stillbitter.
But we all know 2020 has tested us in ways we could have never imagined and I decided I needed some new life and a clean slate to be excited about. Enter, The Flockers.
A few months back I had seen a sign at a local feed store for a fall pullet sale. That intrigued me because my last two flocks began as chicks and that has two main challenges in my opinion: 1) babies are a lot more work from the start, and 2) there’s no real guarantee for how many pullets versus cockerels you’ll end up with. Buying them as pullets solved both of those challenges so sign me up!
I got them on Halloween and was told they were between 16—18 weeks old. It’s been just about two weeks so hopefully I’ll be collecting some beautiful brown eggs in just a couple weeks. I’ve been spending time with them every day, talking to them, giving them treats, and letting them out to peck and scratch in the run. They seemed completely clueless to begin with, not even perching, but are figuring things out now. And I’ve created a few safety checks and balances so that I NEVER forget to lock the coop at night again.
I have to say, the past two weeks have been exhausting. Between COVID and all the protests, I am feeling drained, overwhelmed, angry, sad, frustrated, disillusioned, and altogether raw. It’s a lot. We’re all going through a lot. I have to remind myself to breathe. The more I let my mind wander, the more it drifts into a place that feels unsolvable and paralyzing. And nobody’s got time to be living in a world without hope.
So I hopped on over to my chicken coop last Friday afternoon to spend some time in my happy place. As I’m approaching the fenced in run I only see two chickens.
That immediately set off the alarm in my head.
I quickly scanned to the coop door, which was locked, and then my eyes darted back to the door that opens to the run, also locked. Where are my chickens?
I paused for a second waiting for the other five to pop out of the coop. I wait another second as my mind starts replaying the day before.
When was the last time I let them out to free range? Wednesday. Who else came out to the coop? I don’t know.
I walked to the coop door and unlocked it. There is nothing and no one inside.
I walk to the corner of the chicken yard and see white feathers.
All the pieces click into place… and then they don’t.
For the last two weeks, Cactus has told me he’s seen a fox in the backyard. I thought he must have been staking out our chickens and have been extra careful with them. Only letting them free range for an hour, in the middle of the day, and setting an alarm on my phone. But clearly I messed up and my mistake cost five chickens their lives. I’m so upset and bewildered. So I started doing a lot of research to better understand my enemy.
Late spring and early summer is prime fox time. They’ve had their cubs and need to find food. And with reduced activity due to COVID-19, wildlife is out a lot more brazenly. Be extra vigilant.
Secure your perimeter. This will mean many things depending on how your coop and run are set up. Being sure that your fence goes at least 2 feet deep into the ground is essential. It should also be as high as you can make it, preferably 5 feet minimum.
Have a dog that is all or part shepherd. These breeds will have a visible presence on your land and serve as a deterrent to predators who think they have an easy target.
Create a system so that you can’t forget when your flock is out of the coop. Set an alarm, do things in the same order, have some sort of signal so that everyone you live with knows the chickens are out. Everyone should be accountable for their safety, but whoever lets them out should be the person to confirm they are safely back in the coop.
Don’t tempt fate. Stay outside and nearby while your chickens are out of the coop if possible. There is a reason for all the adjectives that relate to foxes – sneaky as a fox, sly as a fox, cunning as a fox. I still can’t figure out how 5 of the chickens were out of the coop and 2 were safely in. I never separate the flock – they are either all in or all out for free ranging.
Be sure you have your closest neighbor’s phone number and they have yours. Let them know to call you if they notice anything unusual related to your flock or coop.
My three white leghorns, two Isa Browns, and two Gold Leaf Wyandottes. Only one Isa Brown and one Wyandotte remain.
I hope this never happens to you and I am going to do whatever I can to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
It is with a very heavy heart that I tell you we had a tragedy on the farm. I won’t go into a lot of detail. I wasn’t even home when it happened so only know second hand what took place.
Essentially, Cactus had let the chickens out of their run to a little yard area so they could scratch and peck around. This area is right next to the coop and completely fenced except for the gate that one enters or exits through to get to the coop and run.
The chicken coop is on the left, the run is in the back and the free range yard area is right in front.
When we are going in and out, we use a big rock to hold the gate shut rather than fasten and unfasten the lock (mistake #1: lazy humans). Cactus was doing some weed wacking in the little area and at one point he stopped to take a business call and walked through the gate without properly locking it behind him (mistake #2: having to walk and talk).
While on the phone, he said he heard a scuffle and ran to the little yard area to find our schnauzer, Shume, next to a fatally injured white chicken.
He immediately got the chickens into the coop for safety but only counted six when there should have been seven (we had a total of eight to begin with). He searched the little yard and everywhere nearby but could not find the seventh chicken. Eventually he noticed that our second dog Ozzy, a shih-tzu, was nowhere to be found. He started calling Ozzy and finally found him laying in the grass by the front of the house with a lifeless brown chicken next to him.
There are so many lessons to be learned from this event and I now know that dogs are the number one predator of backyard chickens. I never would have thought our useless little twenty pound dogs who only bark and eat and sleep were capable of anything like this.
Here are a few points to remember to save other chickens from a similar fate.
Your dogs may be loving companions and family members, but there are still thousands of years of instinctual learnings that may make them do things you never thought possible.
Chickens have pretty much no way of defending themselves from a dog, unless they can quickly get to a high enough perch.
As a human with a cerebrum, it is your job to think, plan, and perceive the dangers in a situation and protect any animal in your care.
Now, if we are visiting the chickens, which we do at least every evening after work to say hi and give them treats, we make sure the dogs are inside the house.
Cactus also rebuilt the gate entirely so it is much easier to lock and unlock. He did a really great job and was very upset that this happened at all. Trust me, I was not shy about pointing out that this was his fault.
This is the gate to the chicken coop and yard that Cactus re-built so it now goes completely to the ground and is easier to lock.The new and improved gate lock leading to the chicken yard
I share this to save anyone else from the same tragedy. I feel like we failed these little creatures and hope they didn’t suffer too much.
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