Work Is For The Chickens

The chicken coop and runs we inherited are pretty nice.

   

It has two chicken coops with nest boxes and roosts. It has a fully enclosed run for the nights and a larger fenced run for daytime.

   

Making them mostly free range.

The enclosed run has netting over the top but it is still quite large and most people would consider it an adequate run for 10 chickens.

  

The previous owner had 50 chickens and they were free range during the day and enclosed at night.

  

Then the coyotes came and he had 12 chickens so he built a fenced run for the day.

   

Unfortunately, the fenced run never had a gate.  The fencing material overlapped and the wire had been bent to hook around the wire of the first run. This made it a pain to get in twice a day to let them out and then back in.  A literal pain as I kept getting scratched.

   

Until we could get a gate and get it installed, I switched to closing the opening with small carabiners. This was faster and less painful.  But this week we got the gate and installed it.

I also cleaned out the coop and added new food grade diatomaceous earth, not the stuff you put in pool filters.

   

This is an organic form of pest control for chickens.

   

I sprinkle some on the roosts, floors and nests.  It doesn't hurt the chickens, but if ingested by insects, like mites, it kills them. Although it feels like dust, it is microscopically scratchy.  This is what kills the bugs.

   

I mowed both sides for the chickens and they have a pretty nice yard.  I have a much easier way to get in and out.