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It’s time to run your hens out of the hen house, into their outside run. Move feeders and water containers out of doors.
It’s time to get your hammer, nails, scraper, hoe, shovel and remove a winters worth of chicken coop poop! Remove old nest box nesting materials.
Remove dust from the places dust has been collecting since the last time you cleaned your hen house. Top of rafters, light fixtures, nest boxes and such. Last but not least, sweep your hen house.
Sanitize your hen house and nest boxes. I use a strong bleach and blue dawn dish soap mixture. Don’t forget to rinse and sun dry your nest boxes. Be sure you sanitize the hen house floor as well.
Now is a good time to paint / repaint your hen house. Start at the top and work your way down to the floor using a paint sprayer or brush. I think an out door/outside latex paint works well.
Use white or any light colored paint. Dark colored paints do not work well for painting the inside of your hen house.
* Caution Be sure to wear a filter mask that covers your nose and mouth. You can find these at almost any place that sells paint. Wear latex / rubber gloves if you them.
After everything is dry, fill nest boxes with fresh clean nesting material and you have placed them back in their proper place(s). Put down a thick layer of litter covering ‘All’ of your hen house floor.
Hint Hay or straw works well for chicken coop litter.
What you don’t have laying hens or a chicken coop… It’s time to build a coop and get you and your family 2 or 3 pullet chicks. Pullets will start laying at about 24 to 26 weeks of age and will lay well for 2 or more years. They will lay 1 egg about every 27 hours. This means that 2 hens will lay a dozen or more eggs every week.
Chickens require very little space. Two(2) or three(3) square feet of coop floor space for each hen. A 4 foot by 4 foot coop is more than enough space for four(4) laying hens.
When designing and building your new coop, build it so it is easy for you to clean and collect eggs. Chickens are not concerned about the looks of their hen house!
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Town & Country Gardening 
That’s one thing I couldn’t have at our place. We live next tot he football ground and we can’t put a chicken coop anywhere near the area.. I get my free range eggs from a friend’s farm which cost too much. Thanks for sharing.
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Re Zienna Lorren – Thanks fo taking time to visit my humble little blog and for your comment(s)
To be truthful I don’t think I can raise and feed chickens for egg production any cheaper than buying eggs from my supermarket. However it is something doing. I enjoy hearing and watching my hens running around the place.
Happy gardening
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Love your chicken posts. We’re converting a shed into a coop and run for 4-6 pullets. We’re in the UK so don’t have any American flags handy 🙂 but hoping to get our chickens soon. Work to do first.
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Re sorchjayne – Thanks for taking time to visit my tiny blog and for your comment(s)
Keep your pullets warm, dry and a steady supply of fresh clean water and all the feed they will eat and you may soon find more eggs in your nest box(s) than you and your family can eat.
Happy gardening
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I so wish we could have chickens where we live, but our little town has restrictions. Since we’re surrounded by corn and soybean fields for at least 5 miles each way, I think it’s a crazy restriction. But that’s okay, we’re working hard trying to find our country property where I can have all the chickens I want 🙂 And I’ll be referring back to this blog post then.
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Re debweeks – That’s a bit odd. Most and I did say ‘most’ towns and cities don’t have a problem with laying hens. They object mostly to roosters that wake your neighbors at 3am with their early morning crowing!
Happy gardening
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And I’m fine with no roosters in town, but it really doesn’t make sense to restrict laying hens. If the town wants to put some other restrictions in place, like keeping them fenced and off neighbor’s property, I’m great with that as well. The town has no restrictions against rabbits, so guess who is going to start raising meat rabbits? 😉
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When you get lemons, raise rabbits
Happy gardening
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Just a thought for you to consider- I hear that such restrictions tend to be enforced by neighbors complaints rather than random officials wandering around town. I hear fresh eggs are great bribes to keep the complaints from happening 🙂
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I’ve thought about that as well. Unfortunately, the town mayor and his wife take daily walks by our house every morning and every evening. So I guess you could say we have a random official wandering by our house daily.
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I suppose that does put a kink in the plan. Unless the wife needs to be introduced to the wonder of healthy eggs . . . 🙂
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Reblogged this on ohineedwax and commented:
Lovin the chicken blogs!
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I just cleaned my chicken house a few days ago. Im raising 35 new babies right now as well to add to the brood. Thanks!
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Re Levi Thetford Did you get all pullets or straight run chicks? Either way you will be producing a lot of eggs in another 22-24 weeks.
🙂 Lots of omelets for everyone
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Pullets. I bought half buff orphingtons and half California whites. First time for the last ones. I know a fellow that has them and he swears by them. I’m giving them a try.
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