They enjoy their time outdoors, but I can't do it on a regular basis because we have so many ravenous foxes. Also, the hens are kind of ravenous themselves, and attack my seedlings and new plants:
The flock made a break for the front of the house:
They ran past the car:
And stopped on the lawn, where they searched for edibles:
When I thought I could trust them to stay out of the road, I went into their room and removed the feeder and waterer. This photo doesn't make it clear, but I can tell you that the crap and bedding on the floor was 8" to 24" deep. The 24" part was beneath their roosts, and it was both heavy and stinky:
Other places were more dry, but this was still an unpleasant job:
I had to shovel the poopy mix into a plastic tote and then carry it out through the pigeon room, down an aisle and dump it into the tractor bucket. By the way, the little hens have shown no interest in their xylophone since the first day:
Each time I drove a tractor bucket load out to the compost pile, I also pushed some waste hay to the pile. To my surprise, there was still ice beneath the hay:
Three of the hens got tired of being outside and came back into their room where they felt safe. They're used to me moving around, so it didn't bother them that I was still cleaning:
When I was done with the chicken room, I used a leaf rake to herd the hens back inside. This is a routine we used to follow every day, and they still remember what to do. The dogs would have loved to chase them, but the fence prevented that:
Once all the birds were back in their newly cleaned and comparatively sweet smelling room, I once again locked them safely inside - but left three windows open for ventilation:
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