The other day (that seems to be an expression I use alot, hee hee) I was outside near the chickens' pens. I had cleaned out both the chicken barns and had put some nice new hemlock shavings in. The critters absolutely love it when they get fresh, clean homes.
I was outside filling up water containers and I thought for surely that there was one dilly of a fight going on in the "old" chicken coop. This is the original chicken coop of the yard. It is a good size, fits a fair number of chickens and is horrible to clean out because we didn't make it tall enough to fully stand up in. I am vertically challenged, so I have taken on this chore, I am about 4 inches shorter than my Sister (I top out at about 5'2"), so it is easier for me to do it. Oh brother, oh well.
So I thought that I had better go over and see what is going on in the house. I put my head in their door and (we have a light on to mimic longer daylight hours) could see several chickens having the time of their life in this new sawdust. If I didn't know better, it looked to me like how they dust bathe in the soil on those warm summer days, shavings were flying everywhere. It was these girls, what a bunch of thumping and bumping. When I had my head stuck in their doorway, they were all looking at me like I was out of my mind, they were really gawking at me. This happiness in the house has encouraged me to clean out their homes even more frequently.
I don't know how often they should be cleaned, but it appears to me that once a week is not enough. So, for the amount of time it takes to clean out the "old" chicken coop, I have been cleaning it every 3 days, this is better for me and for the birds, without a doubt in my mind. With wintertime, they spend so much time inside that they deserve to have a really nice clean house. Yea!!! Good for the waist too, I seem to get a little fatter around there in the winter. Of course, it couldn't be because of the heafty meals we eat eh? Like the meat and mashed potatoes and gravies, :evil: :-D :roll: huh!!!!! Beautiful day, greatest day, Cindi
(http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3317/chickenssawdust640x480ry0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)