It seems, sometimes, chickens are more work than they are worth. They have to be cleaned and feed and watered. Since the trees are still lacking most of their leaves, they have to be tarped from the sun both early morning and direct noon rays. Two months ago they had their coop lined with a bathroom liner to ease poop cleanup and last month they had their nesting bars rearranged to ease nightly top bunk fights. All of this done with bawking from several of the hens and many of the residents of Plan473. Most of the time I don't mind working with the chickens.
Most of the time. Oh sure, they lay eggs that taste better than any egg from the store. And while this is true, eating eggs is a come and go thing and right now I am on a not eating egg kick. Eggs, therefore are an added bonus.
Chickens only have one purpose. They are my saviors from bug infestation. And for that, I am grateful. So when the coop needs to be cleaned of old packed dirt and fresh dirt brought in, I try not to complain. Too much.
It is hard work. Dirt has to the forked over, then shoveled out. One shovelful at a time. Certain areas the dirt is very hard packed and very stinking such as by the door and under the water feeder. And both of these areas are daily trodden by at least one resident of Plan473 as they open/close the coop door. I really despise standing in poop laden dirt that then sticks to the bottom of my shoe like gum on a hot summer day.
If the dirt was not replaced, the smell would get worse and then the chickens would get foot fungus. Taking care of foot funk is not an option as I am not that kind of chicken person. So we shovel out the dirt to ward off foot funk. As a bonus to shoveling dirt, I will have bucket loads of the most nutritious fertilized dirt for various usages. The first bucket load was piled up for an above ground garden I hope to get built in the next few weeks.
The second bucket full was poured into this root exposed hole. Two trees are intertwined and both fell over during the storm two years ago. Since both are still thriving, I figured poop enriched dirt couldn't hurt as a natural nutrient booster.
Hours later with sweat rolling face, a sore stiff back, and blistered up hands the job is done. You stand back and admire your work thinking it wasn't so bad and silently thanking yourself that it is only a once a year job. Freshly painted coop, a new roosting bar, and fluffed dirt/sand mixture. I think I am done working on the chickens for a while. It seems my chicken work - benefit ratio is getting out of whack. Oh wait, next month is new peepers month. Ugh, more chicken work. All I can say is the chickens better start benefiting more.
One final note, I can't say for sure, but I think the one floor roosting bar was a smash hit. No step ladders needed either.