Readying the Roost

Thankfully spring is just around the corner and its almost time to prepare our coops and chickens for the new season. Having chickens in your backyard is certainly a great way to get fresh eggs but it’s also really important to maintain their health with a clean coop.

If you are new to having chickens, I have a few suggestions to ensure your new coop is ready. Firstly, I would strongly advise that your coop is strong and fox proof. I live in a high wind area so we had to make sure my pens were built strong enough to stay put when the high winds came through.

Also, after learning the hard way, I would highly recommend that you use the smallest possible wire. I have used 25×25 mesh and this is to stop the chickens sticking their heads out when foxes are around – yep early on I lost a few because I had used 50×50 and the foxes came and that was the end of those chooks.

Also, we have lots of wild birds and they were getting in and eating their food and drinking their water – not to mention spreading mites – so the smaller the wire the better. For the floor of the coop I use coarse river sand and sugar cane mulch which makes them easy to clean. I put wood shavings in my nest boxes and clean and change that regularly.

If you already have chooks, it’s almost that time of year when the coops need a big clean out. Before I clean them, I cydectin and worm everything and then wait a few days before I strip their pens. I completely clean out my pens, spray them down with coopex, making sure to get into all the nooks and I wash all nest boxes out (I use plastic ones). I put in a thin layer of clean sand and sprinkle food grade lime over the top and then sprinkle sugar cane mulch over the top. Everyone has different ideas about what to put on the floor of the coop and I just use what works for us. I find this way easy to keep clean. It is a big job but once it’s done, your chooks will thank you for it.

By Nathan Quayle