Monday
Linda
I have spent an enjoyable week with my parents and sister. It’s always nice to have family come and visit us at PHF. It’s also nice to have the extra helping hands of my sister and she is always ready to delve into new projects and daily chores. You see she’s a farm girl at heart too. So it was easy to get her to help me clean out the chicken coop. It was quite a mess and I usually don’t allow it to get this bad. With the two of us shoveling, scraping and removing debris the job was done in record time.
This place needs cleaned up
The worst mess was under the roosts so after we got it cleaned I decided to spread some straw over the shavings in that area. I think it will be easier to remove sections of soiled straw and replace it every few days rather than just the wood shavings that get soggy. The alfa hen watched our every move as we cleaned even though we had thrown treats out in the yard to keep the flock busy while we worked. Unfortunately they have to stay in a pen for now, because we can’t let them free range until the pullets start to lay and know to use the nesting boxes. The alfa hen or queen bee as we call her, scratched up the debris as we shoveled.
Push...Push
I guess she didn’t want us miss any poopy mess. Yuk. I can definitely say that scooping out a chicken coop is way at the bottom of the glamourous job scale. We did brighten up the coop with a bit of art. My sister brought a stitched picture that she has had since the seventies that says “The rooster may crow, but the hen delivers the goods.” We hung it over the nesting boxes. Kinda gives the coop some class. I’m sure the chickens don’t really care, but it gives me a chuckle when I see it hanging there.
Home Sweet Home
My two roosters are maturing and are trying to tune up their vocal chords for crowing. Right now they sound like they swallowed a kazoo or young boys whose voices are changing, but I’m sure that within a week they will sing a perfectly pitched cock-a-doodle-doo. I really need to do something with them because they are starting to harass my hens. I noticed that one of my hens had a bloody scratch on her back today. Sonny may have to become the executioner, but I don’t know if I could do that.
Off-Grid in West Virginia 
When I was a kid, I had to clean the horse stalls. Whew…the smell of ammonia was so strong. That was back when I was a young buck and had energy. Kinda of miss it all though. In science class we had some kinda of project with baby chickens (don’t remember) but anyway after the project I brought a bunch home with me (all white chickens), we let them range around the yard (lived in the country then). Every now and then we find eggs, but the would be ROTTen. They were great for throwing them at brothers, cuz the smell does not wash off. LOL