Cleaning the Chicken House

Richard headed out to clean the Chicken House this morning.  Melanie followed with the wheelbarrow, rake and hoe.  Richard cleaned and Melanie brought the glorious Chicken Leavings (Poop, Straw and such) to replenish Garden Beds.  I think they smiled at the expanding possibilities.

Richard cleaned the Chicken House under the watchful eyes and clucks of Hennies Clara and Leah. Both are Delawares. Clara is quite a precocious Chicken.  She is always there to greet you.  She doesn't mind being picked up by the Humans.  Quite the busy Lady, she always has a job to do, whether that is finding Grubs or getting into the Food. Leah was also quite a friendly Chicken, but lately she has been going through molt.  Since then, she has not been showing a lot of extra energy.  It was great that she was engaged in the "doin's" in the Chicken House.

On this day, Clara and Leah had different ideas than Richard on decorating the Hen House.  It is their House after all.  Richard would put fresh Straw on top of the Nest Boxes and those Hennies would scratch and scratch, which meant the Straw made its way back onto the Hen House floor. He would pick it up and once again it was back down on the floor.

In the meantime, I was in the Human House making Apple Pancake from the Arkansas Blacks which are keeping great in the refrigerator crisper downstairs.  The soundtrack from "Pride and Prejudice", which Nile got us when we left North Dakota, was playing in the background.

After about an hour, the cleaning of the Chicken House was complete.  Showers were in order.  Water was put on for Coffee. And there we were sitting down to Brunch. Yes, this is "slow time" and yes, we have some tidying up to do.  January feels good.