My Chirpy Chicken Coop

3 Secrets To A Clean Chicken Coop December 26, 2021   (Our cleaned-out coop on a rainy day, probably about to get dirty again! :) We all know that chickens, like all animals (and children!), tend to be...well, dirty. Which is why I have three awesome secrets to a clean chicken coop: Vinyl Vinyl on the floor of the coop is the best for poopy messes! And it's very easy to change out every so often.         2. Feed & Water Outside The second important way to keep your coop clean is to never put feed or water inside the coop. Never. For any reason. All it does is attract flies in the summer, rodents in the winter, and make a huge wet mess year round.         3. Outdoor Activities That leads me to my third tip for keeping your coop clean - outdoor activities. The easiest way to keep your coop clean is to keep your chickens out in the run as much as possible year round. In reality, they should only be inside the coop while they're sle...

  A Year In Memory: Washington December 19, 2021 (Washington's gravesite.) It has been officially one year since beloved Washington passed away . I still miss her so much and the pain is still there. I think about how if she was still alive, she would be a grown-up mature hen, not a shy, tiny pullet with a quiet chirp. She still inspires me to push on and be a trooper, just like she was. I was talking with a friend on the anniversary of Washington's death, and she asked me to share some of the memories with her, and doing so helped me with the sadness, so I'll share one memory with you: There was once a time where Washington was really injured and we needed to keep her inside until she healed. (The hens really took it out on her!) We kept her in a spare bathroom in a kennel, but I totally forgot to close the door. She walked out and roamed around the house for a few hours. I come in after school and I see her walking around the hall with a trail of droppings behind her and ...

Chicken Coop Cleaning December 12, 2021 (Angelica exiting a just-cleaned coop!) Keeping a clean chicken coop is, of course, optimal for the health of your flock. Your coop doesn't need to be spotless, but it does need to be dry and free of mold, mildew, parasites, etc. I only do a deep clean twice a year. Yup, that's it. Just two times a year I do a really good, deep coop cleaning. Spring and fall, I clean all the old litter and nesting box bedding out and scrub down the whole coop with a white vinegar/water solution right before the weather turns cold - and then again when it starts to warm up again in the spring. I like to clean my chicken coop in the fall just before winter to be sure there aren't any rodents or bugs that are planning on spending the winter, and to be sure the coop is nice and clean heading into winter when the chickens will be spending more time inside due to the longer periods of darkness. And then again in the spring, just before I welcome new babies ...

French Maran Portrait December 5, 2021 (My French Maran portrait of Lafayette! I thought it would be a fun touch to have the Maran crowing. :) I've been really missing Lafayette lately, so I decided to commemorate a painting to him: A French Maran portrait! I had so much fun with this cool painting of Laffy crowing, and so I decided I would share this how-to with y'all: Get your supplies together! You'll need- A canvas, pencil, container of water, paper towel, various sizes of paintbrushes, gold acrylic paint, yellow-green acrylic paint, red acrylic paint, white acrylic paint, & black acrylic paint. Do a sketch transfer of your chosen French Maran rooster. (For those who don't know what that is, then here is a quick tutorial- Simply print out a photo of a French Maran, then turn over the paper and use a pencil to smudge the back in graphite. Next, place the paper face up on your canvas, and trace out the details of the photo. (Be careful not to move the paper aroun...