Do you mean I’m cute?

Yesterday, was such a taste of Spring!  It actually reached 55 degrees F.  All day, I anxiously glanced outside, just crazy to get into the run and clean out the beautiful compost the flock has been making all Winter long.  Finally, around 2pm, I was able to escape into the coop.

As it is too cold to compost in the composter bin during the Winter, I put the chickens to work.  Each time that I cleaned out the coop, I would spread the dirty pine shavings and chicken poop in the run.  The flock loved it!  The could not wait to scratch through the piles searching for treasures.  Over, the course of the week, what resembeled shavings and poop, became indistinguishable from the soil in the run.  The chickens love composting their own waste. By scratching and digging, they are turning their own compost pile in the run.  The best part is that it never freezes, because it emits heat while composting. So, I kept adding more each week.

All season long, I have watched the chickens slowly become more and more elevated upon compost.  They managed to compost about a foot of compost in their run.  This was my chance to remove it.  I let Tilly, Oyster Cracker, Sunshine, Feathers and Chocolate out to free-range.  Autumn and Meesha had to be locked in the coop because of last time.

Tilly says Thanks!

I pulled the run apart and climbed in with a shovel.  My neighbor has a huge wheelbarrow, both my kids can ride in it at the same time.  Graciously, he lets me borrow it from time to time. As I was busy at work and the rest of the girls were free-ranging, Chocolate made the rounds.  He curiously came over now and then into the open run.  He walked up the ramp to the locked door and talked to the two prisoners.  It was so cute.  He really does try to attend to his family’s needs.

After about an hour, I pulled out 4 wheelbarrows full of compost.  The final pile is about 4 feet by 4 feet by 2 1/2 feet high.    As a finishing touch, I regraded the run, rearranged the log and the perching roost, then pushed the run back together.  I returned the flock to the run and released Meesha and Autum from their imprisonment.  The chickens were very happy to have their headroom back.  I was very happy with the fruits of their labor.  By the end of April, the compost should be cured enough to start spreading in the gardens.  I know that plants are just going to love it!

The huge pile of…compost!

All clean now