Spring Cleaning: Chicken Pen

I clean out the hen house twice a year: spring and fall. 

When my son was in high school, I asked him to design me a hen house.  The back doors swing wide open for easy cleaning.

The nesting boxes are hinged for easy access when collecting eggs.

It looks like Little Red is busy doing just that.

When I open the gate, there is a mad chicken dash for freedom.  Looks like I caught one in mid-flight launching from a perch.

Some come out in formation.  The newer chickens are cautious.  No mad dash for them.

And then there are always the stragglers.

After that rush to get out, they sure don't go far (initially anyway).

This is what I clean out.  The shavings, hay and chicken poop compost a bit creating warmth for the hens in the winter. 

Sometimes I find an egg where it shouldn't be.  Sometimes its from a young confused hen; sometimes its an impatient one who doesn't want to wait her turn for the nesting boxes.

I dump the composty shaving mixture in here.  The chickens will scratch and spread it out. 

You can see the entries into the hen house from the chicken pen.

The chickens love sitting on these nice big roosts. 

The chicken pen is basically a big dog run with a roof.  Hawks, dogs and raccoons are the biggest chicken predators here.

Pilgrim, a Barred Rock, came in to do inspection when I finished cleaning out the old and put in the new shavings.

Would you like to meet the chickens?  Of course you would!  In order of seniority...  

This is Goldie, a Buff Orpington

She was one of our original chickens.   Goldie's about 5 years old.  She's very sweet and docile. 

Fuzzy Cheeks (Araucana) lays blue green eggs.  She's brave and can be aggressive.  We thought she was a rooster for awhile. 

Can you see her fuzzy cheeks?

Sunny (also Araucana) is very shy and independent.  She doesn't hang with the rest of the flock and is the last one into the coop at night.

 We like to keep our flock in the neighborhood of 10 chickens.  Its normal to lose one or two chickens every year.  They just die - from cold, from heat, from too many worms... who knows.  When we get down to five or six chickens, we add more.  So three years ago we added five (of which four remain):

Speckles (Speckled Sussex).  There are two of these - with the same name -

- because I really can't tell them apart.  Very friendly, curious chickens. 

Buttercup (Sicilian Buttercups).  So named because their combs are shaped like a buttercup.

They are a rare, endangered breed.  They don't lay a lot of eggs, just a couple per week and are our only chickens that lay white eggs.

And finally, the newbies.  These chickens are a year old.  We added them last spring.  The egg count was getting low between having old chickens and breeds that don't lay a lot so we went for the good layers and favorite breeds.  I had to have a Barred Rock (also pictured above doing inspection).  I think they are a beautiful chicken.

We bought 3 Rhode Island Reds.  We had one in our original flock and we missed Little Red.  Now we have eggs coming out of our ears.

Another Little Red.  Bright red comb means she's laying.  Less than beautiful plumage means her energy is going into eggs and not feathers.

We tried Gold Sex Links for the first time.  Good layers as well.

Another Little Red! 

A Gold Sex Link looking for worms on Oreo's grave. 

Camille's pine tree seemed to be a popular hang out.