Happy henhouse

This weekend I'll be cleaning out Gidget's chook shack, which means bundling the little darlings out into the run while I don disposable gloves.

After removing all the soiled straw and newspaper, I give the floor a brush and a wipe, line it with fresh newspapers and straw. If I have any garlic skins or lavender flowers then I'll toss them in to help repel insects.

Then all the hen house sweepings of manure and hay go into an old salvaged steel rubbish bin and i cover it in water, leave it for a few weeks and hey presto! Great fertiliser which goes straight into the compost.

Plus the hens have a sweet smelling hutch.

There was also a good article in the Weekly Times on the hen health, including hutch design and cleanliness.

Hilda inspecting her spring-cleaned hutch

New girls on the block

Hilda checks out her new home in Jan Juc.

The new gals – Hilda, Gidget III, Philly III and Laura – have settled in a bit.

After arriving last Friday evening, they tumbled out of their cardboard box and into the run. After much blinking, clucking and investigating their new home, these new point-of-lay hens seem to spend a fair bit of time roosting on the old ladder by the lemon tree in their pen – partly because they like the view, can eat insects off the lemon leaves and partly because the older hens Layne and Ledgergirl can’t harass them up there.

But tonight I grabbed each one and put her in the lockable chook shack hutch as they are all going to have to get along at some point.

And you know what?

All six snuggled down in the straw, as happy as pigs in mud.

No doubt tomorrow they will be arguing and feathers flying, but tonight at least, there’s peace and quiet from Cluckingham Palace.