Winterizing the roosts
Last winter I tried a system in the coop where we stapled heavy duty clear plastic under the roosts. This technique allows the nighttime droppings (which constitute most of the clean-up required in a coop), fall down to the bottom of the ladder, thus making it easy to clean up every day or every other day. It just requires my heavy insulated rubber “Mickey Mouse” gloves, to grab handfuls of dirty straw from the bottom of the roost and toss it into a large bucket that will head to the compost when full.
The idea sounded kind of gross when I first heard it. After all, doesn’t the plastic tarp just get disgusting? Isn’t grabbing handfuls of dirty straw a pain?
It turns out, it’s actually an amazing solution. Grabbing a few handfuls of straw is FAR preferable to trying to use a scoop or a shovel or a rake. The tarp doesn’t actually get that messy. All of the space behind the plastic stays nice and clean, giving them places to hang out or cross through during the day.
We took it down after winter, because the birds spend much less time inside the coop, and I keep much less straw on the ground since they don’t need the insulation.
But we reinstalled a version for this year, which hopefully will work as well as it did last year. We do have over a dozen more birds this year than last, so fingers crossed!
While we were in there I removed the two old ladders that the baby birds were STILL sleeping on (they refuse to integrate with the other chickens on the big roosts). I replaced it with a smaller roost in the same spot. I’m going to head out there in a few minutes to see whether they are all just laying around the spot where the ladders USED to be. These birds do not like change! But those two old ladders had to go, because they are almost impossible to clean under. Get with the program, babies!
Steve also installed a little electric built-in fan for additional ventilation, because with 50 birds, even with two cracked windows, it can get pretty moist in here. These are two of the corners where the roosts go - a big one to the right on the back wall, and those two ladders to the left of the little door.
Out go all of the roosts and ladders. Another gorgeous day for mid-December!
Taking a photo of the chickens all enjoying their nice, empty coop full of sunshine!
They are all so curious whenever there are any changes in their coop.
What would we do without our electric staple gun? Plus during the winter we run extension cords down to the coop for the heated water bowls, so we don’t have to drag a generator with us to run the stapler. This is the same plastic they use to cover greenhouses. We love it and are buying extra just to have it around.
All ready for the Hen Squad!
And here they are!
These girls like to roost extra early so they get the best spot.
I went down in the dark and used a flash to take these shots. Looks like everyone found a place.
The babies in the dark. Same spot, different ladder. But still look how FIVE of them crowd on that one rung. That will not last for long!
There is so much space over on the big roost, but alas, the babies have no interest. By the way, that one bird on the top is NOT a baby! You can see our second rooster prominent on the second rung. We need to give that little guy a name. You can also barely see the one black fluffy Cochin who sleeps on the floor in the corner. She’s done this on and off her whole life, very strange chicken behavior.
The other side looks quiet, too. They are not happy with my flash though!
There are always a half dozen or so who like to sleep on the upper roosts or the loft. It gets SOOOO messy up in that loft, but twice a year I mask up and take a broom and just SWEEP it into a compost bin. Worst Job Ever.
And we always have a few holdouts who love to sleep in the nesting boxes. This is supposed to be discouraged, but I have other things to worry about! I just have to make sure to pull out any overnight droppings so eggs stay clean, but we are only getting about 2 eggs a day at this point in the dark winter, so it’s not a big deal. When spring comes and those babies start laying I will need to add another nesting box.
