Saturday, April 18, 2009

Spring Cleaning

I cleaned out the coop today. This entailed the following activities:
  1. Build a compost containment unit for the old wood pellets. Finding four congruent spots to drive fence posts and that would result in a symmetric compost pile is quite the challenge in North Stonington. They call it Stonington for a reason. I had left over fence from the run construction and picked up fence posts at Home Depot yesterday.
  2. Go to Home Depot and buy dust mask and a big ass shovel for the scooping.
  3. Remove old wood pellets to compost pile.
  4. Clean straw out of next boxes.
  5. Liberally apply a slurry of diatomaceous earth and water to everything inside the coop.
  6. Spread left over slurry on the coop floor and wait for everything to dry.
  7. Spray inside of coop with an anti-parasite spray. Sprayed birds, too. They are looking mangy.
  8. Add new wood pellets and straw for the nests. Place water and feeder back into the coop.
  9. Open the pop door so the chickens can enjoy their newly cleaned home.
Not fun, but it was time. Next time will be easier as I will already have the compost pile and hopefully won't have to spray the birds. Chickens don't like to be caught, let alone sprayed with medicine.