Alaskan's Journal

[Alaskan]

I gather the lice can live through freezing weather? If not, just treating the birds, their "warmth" hosts, would be enough. I think I'd do the treatment thing now. Kill all that you can so they can't continue to multiply and be even harder to eradicate later.

that is what I am thinking.

I will medicate everyone now, and spray the coop, poo and all.

Gotta be better than nothing.

Then as soon as it warms up enough to scoop the poo we will do a full on clean and treat again.

The kids did get the floor of the wood floored coop clean... and they raked out all old feathers from the greenhouse and shed.

The poo shelves are rock solid though, as is their run. sigh

 

[CntryBoy777]

Something that I do that helps with the clean out is to sprinkle some spent hay over the floor....the poo tends to stick to it better than the plywood and sweeps right out...of course we don't stay as cold for as long, but it would be worth a shot anyway.....

 

[Alaskan]

When I have used hay in the past it turned into a horrid heavy stinky carpet of poo.

The wood shavings work great... and is why the wood floored coop did clean out today.

However the poo in the poop trays turns into a concrete sheet. ... I had wanted to try feed bag liners this year.. but I forgot.

But the sand floor in the shed went rock solid... I didn't put bedding in there.

And the dirt floor in the greenhouse is also still rock solid... I didn't put bedding in there either.

I guess maybe I should have... but I usually just scrape them out come spring, then water them well, and they look good again.

 

[Alaskan]

Well, even though ice was in the water buckets... there was a water puddle in the run.

The ducks didn't seem to mind but the chickens thought it was a horrid idea.

I guess Monday I will see if it is still warm enough to clean the coops.



The path to the barn and the goats is getting nasty and trash is peaking up out of the snow.... must mean that spring is creeping towards me..... and maybe I should do a trash pick-up and dump run sometime in the next few days.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I can attest that the ducks have no problem with Any puddle....they'd be Happy to have them everyday.....
Your goats have a look of amazement that there is some daylight outside....for a short period of time, anyway....

 

[Alaskan]

I can attest that the ducks have no problem with Any puddle....they'd be Happy to have them everyday.....
Your goats have a look of amazement that there is some daylight outside....for a short period of time, anyway....

yep!

A bit more sunlight every single day! Not much heat to it though..... unless you are sitting in a greenhouse.

 

[Bruce]

and maybe I should do a trash pick-up and dump run sometime in the next few days.

There was a plastic pot way out in the field a few days ago, likely blew in from a neighbors. I was going to go get it the next day but the wind blew it somewhere else. Guess I'll find it when I wander out to see if the metal crap prior owners dumped just inside the tree line has been released by the frozen ground.

 

[Alaskan]

there is that fine line between when the snow melts and the green stuff grows like crazy... only lasts a week, maybe 2, all trash has to be found and picked up right then.

 

[Bruce]

Now we know why you have 5 kids!!!

 

[Alaskan]

I put my Bantam Wheaten Ameraucana trio, with a blue bantam Wyandotte in a tractor for pure eggs/breeding.

Then I couldn't sleep well last night... I kept worrying that something would bust in and eat my trio... that trio is excellent .... I guess I need to look over the tractor security today so that I can sleep well tonight.