Hot, sweaty, dusty, smelly unappreciated job and the chickens don’t say a peep of thanks. Dumb clucks.

I feel ya.

I really need to wear a dust mask, but when I do it steams up my glasses to the point that I can't see what I'm doing.

I usually just wait for a damp day to keep the dust down.

Clean nests resulting in fewer crap-covered eggs and a growing compost pile are my rewards. The hens could give a shit...

I tie on a wet bandanna bank robber style, does not fog the glasses as bad.

You guys are doing it all wrong. I trained our chickens to poop in a bucket next to the henhouse.

Now that that lie is off the list, we have a handy man that does the bulk of the dirty and heavy work around the place for room and board. At our age it's the perfect solution for both him and us.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
You guys are doing it all wrong. I trained our chickens to poop in a bucket next to the henhouse.

Jim

I made the mistake of making a flat-topped nesting box for the boids. They roost on top of it and crap all over it. I have a 5 gallon bucket on one end and I scrape it off with a flat-nose shovel and when the bucket is full, dump it on the compost pile.

They DO however, crap in their water dish quite handily...

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
You guys are doing it all wrong. I trained our chickens to poop in a bucket next to the henhouse.

Jim

I made the mistake of making a flat-topped nesting box for the boids. They roost on top of it and crap all over it. I have a 5 gallon bucket on one end and I scrape it off with a flat-nose shovel and when the bucket is full, dump it on the compost pile.

They DO however, crap in their water dish quite handily...

Yeah, chickens poop wherever and whenever they please and nothing will change that fact. If it wasn't for the fresh eggs they'd be used for chicken noodle soup.

Jim

If you think chickens are bad, try ducks. They have to be the worst of the egg layers. Fill up their pool, they crap in it as soon as they get it cleaned. Dump it out everyday and the bottom 2" are all duck poop. Their coop is worse, I used an ice scrapper and a feed shove to clean it out and then hose the rest the best I could. I had them for 7 years and 2 weeks ago was able to get someone to take all 13. Eggs were always covered in crap.

BTDT for several years growing up. Had 100 laying hens for selling eggs to local grocery stores. For some reason dad said to kill them off, a few each night, dress them out and freeze them. We had a lot of chicken based meals for a while. Later he bought 100 chicks which were raised to fryer size and butchered for the freezer.

And, yes, cleaning all the chicken shit out of the chicken house was not a pleasant task, especially in the summer.

Just be glad you didn't raise pigs!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by odin:
Just be glad you didn't raise pigs!!!!

My grandfather did! When they got big enough we would butcher them. Lots of work, and not necessarily all that pleasant.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I feel ya.

I really need to wear a dust mask, but when I do it steams up my glasses to the point that I can't see what I'm doing.

I usually just wait for a damp day to keep the dust down.

Clean nests resulting in fewer crap-covered eggs and a growing compost pile are my rewards. The hens could give a shit...

I can’t help with the crappy job of chicken coop mucking, but I can help with the fogging glasses issue.

Instead of buying the super cheap dust masks spring for a N95 or even a N99 “respirator”. They look like a dust mask,but have a check valve and also the number is indicative of the % of dust they stop.

We had to wear them in BSL3 labs when working on TB instruments, while also wearing safety glasses and tyvek bunny suits. My glasses never fogged due to my breath would exit the check valve and they had a gasket type material that seals to your face that prevents leakage.

You might need to try different shapes till you find one that works, and long facial hair is a no no. Once you’ve used one that works though you’ll never go back to a “dust mask”

Hmmmmm...we may have identified the problem...



I've tried the N95's and yup, the face fur is a problem.

When I was a kid my parents paid me 10¢ to scrape the dung off the hen house floor with a hoe and shovel. Hard hot work in the Missouri summertime. But I could buy a lemon coke at the drugstore soda fountain with that shiny silver dime!

ETA – And the ammonia stench! No cross ventilation in that hen house. Dad used the scraped out poop to fertilize the garden.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

quote:

Originally posted by odin:
Just be glad you didn't raise pigs!!!!

We raised pigs a number of years ago and yeah, cleaning up their pen wasn't fun, especially in the heat of summer. That said, they provided us with the best pork we've ever had. There was a father and son butcher shop close by that did the cut and wrapping and smoking of the meat. Their smokehouse won awards and let me say, they were well deserved. Best bacon and hams we've ever had, bar none.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:


Hmmmmm...we may have identified the problem...



I've tried the N95's and yup, the face fur is a problem.

Well just keep growning it, and pretty soon it should filter the dust out all on its own

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:

Well just keep growning it, and pretty soon it should filter the dust out all on its own

Does a pretty good job on cookies...

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
You guys are doing it all wrong. I trained our chickens to poop in a bucket next to the henhouse.

Now that that lie is off the list, we have a handy man that does the bulk of the dirty and heavy work around the place for room and board. At our age it's the perfect solution for both him and us.

Jim

Ha, you must be the chicken whisperer! Our chickens are most certainly the dumbest creatures on the planet, perhaps the universe if there is extraterrestrial life...

Hate that smell. Commercial chicken barns reek.

Sounds like a cheep task to complete

[URL= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a4jRTZ5Kyo]Dirty Jobs - Mike Rowe at the egg farm[/URL]