I'm clearly getting old.
Yesterday I took advantage of the good weather and went to the Allotment to clean and disinfect/treat the coops. There is a largeish shed, and two large coops, and it took ages. It's not really the POuktry Shielding which takes the time, it's clearing everything out.
While the houses were drying, I scrubbed and treated the roosting bars and the shed nest boxes which are not attached to the shed.
And while they were drying I did the poo trays, and I disinfected all the drinkers while I was at it.
When each house was dry enough, I sprinkled Stalosan (a poultry safe disinfectant) and Diatom, put everything back in and refilled the nest boxes with Aubiose, and put Aubiose in the poo trays and on the floor. Economically I winced at putting fresh Aubiose in the poo trays: - in the weekly cleans I usually put Aubiose from the nest box in the poo trays, and then put fresh Aubiose in the nest boxes. However, when I'm doing a deep clean, there is no sense in keepin any of the old bedding - just in case there is a mite problem.
The whole thing took nearly 5 hours. Two of the Welsh Black youngsters, who are broody, had got quite annoyed that they had no nest box in their shed. As soon as thenestbox was back in place, both of them occupied it. Daft birds. There are three nestboxes in the shed,giving a capacity for four hens to lay, in comfort, at any one time. But no, they wanted to squeeze in together into one space.
The nest boxes which are attached to the other coops are a bit of a nuisance. I've got some ideas on how DH could maybe adapt the floor of them to make them easier to empty, which would save probably half an hour in total on the cleaning front, plus they would be quicker to dry.
Anyway. I got home, had a shower, and then sat in the sun in the garden. I ached. I can't believe I ache quite as much as I do. I went to bed at 8.30pm!
I had to get up at 6am to let the Girls out. They were starting to make a noise and I don't want the neighbours to complain. Unusually, I got back into bed and I didn't get up until 9.30.
I am feeling old.
