Hen Chronicles: Getting ready for winter with a coop cleanup

The pre-winter coop cleaning was delayed this year, thanks to a prodigious amount of procrastinating on my part. But I finally got around to it on Wednesday, which offered the warm, sunny conditions that are ideal for a task I normally tackle in September. (I remove the nightly "deposits" from the coop daily at dawn, but the job at hand involved one of my thorough, twice-yearly cleansings.)

Gathering all my gear — a large blue bucket to collect the used bedding, a pail and squirt bottle containing a vinegar-and-water solution, disposable gloves, rags, and assorted brushes and scraping implements (for any encrusted poop), I headed out to the coop shortly before 11:30 yesterday morning.

Not surprisingly, “the girls” were not immediately cooperative. Snow already was outside in the pen, where the hens have to wait things out while I empty and clean the coop before laying in fresh bedding. But Nellie and Hope were ensconced in the coop, where they don’t usually hang out during the day unless they plan to lay their eggs.

So I trudged back into the house and waited half an hour before trying again. This time, Snow and Hope were in the pen, but Nellie was in the coop's nest box. Dandelion greens, a favorite treat, did not lure her out, so I gave her a gentle nudge, which did the trick. If she had been planning on laying, neither she nor anyone else had gotten around to it yet, as there were no eggs to be found.

I locked all three hens out in the pen anyway, risking the possibility that eggs might turn up in hard to reach places while the hens were stuck outside. (It didn’t happen.)

The cleaning itself took about 30 minutes. But scrubbing the wooden floor with that vinegar-and-water solution left it damp, so I let the coop dry out for quite some time before filling it with fresh pine shavings. Only then, after more than an hour in exile, could Snow, Nellie and Hope go back in.

And that’s just what they did. Immediately, amid great anticipation. (If you think cats are curious, try watching chickens in action.) All three hens raced into the coop and poked around with considerable enthusiasm. Within minutes, Nellie had deposited an egg in the nest box. All was right in their world.

I would love to know, though, if “the girls" appreciate having their digs spruced up, spring and fall, or if they see it as needless interior decorating by their pesky landlord.