Come along to see how to get your chicken coop ready for fall. Pretty white mums, muted fall pumpkins, and of course, backyard chickens.
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Okay, okay. I know what you’re thinking, a decorated chicken coop? Sounds silly.
Yes, I agree it might sound silly-But I have a saying that I live by “I am going to make everything around me beautiful, that will be my life.” Elsie De Wolfe
And yes, that even means the chicken coop friends.
Plus when you become a crazy chicken lady, that’s just a part of it. 🙂
So without further ado, let’s get your chicken coop ready for fall!
First, let’s clean your chicken coop
Let me start by saying I only ‘clean’ my coop twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the fall.
How you ask? My chickens free range most of the day, leaving the coop for laying eggs and sleeping only. The chickens feed and water stay in the run only and never the actual coop. We don’t have much prey around so free ranging our backyard flock is the easiest way to keep chickens for us.
I do keep a paint scraper and a giant scooper to scoop out any poop on roost bars or poop on the floor from the night time. I do this in the morning when feeding the chickens, it’s just apart of my backyard farm chores. Owning chickens is a literal dream come true for me, I spent a lot of time waiting for this day so I don’t mind the quick, simple clean up in the mornings.
PS.. Did you know nest box curtains actually help make a functional chicken coop for your laying hen and especially your broody hens? Nest box curtains provide a private place for your laying hens to lay or hatch fresh eggs but also a great way to add a unique touch to your backyard chicken coop.
But a ‘deep clean’ (that means raking out all of the bedding, power washing the walls, roost bars, ladders and exterior, and maybe even some minor paint touch ups) only gets done twice a year, when changing to the fall and spring seasons and that’s with a WHITE chicken coop, chickens are really not that much work and the reward is much higher than the small amount of chores you have to do to keep the coop tidy.
FALL CHICKEN COOP VIDEO TOUR
Next, let’s add bedding
After giving your chicken coop a good deep clean, it is time to add bedding.
Last fall, I just used straw. This year, I am trying recycled coffee grounds for bedding in my coop. This topic tends to ruffle some feathers among chicken owners. After researching the topic, I used my own judgment and decided it was something I would like to try.
After all, the coffee grinds were FREE! (cheap and easy is the way I like to do things around here) Read on to see what else I used to refresh our coop at the cost of….nothing. You can find it in your backyard too, I’m sure of it!
So, did you know Starbucks has a program called grounds to garden? They recycle the coffee grounds by bagging them up and giving them away to people for their gardens or in my case, coops. If you decide to try recycled coffee grounds in your coop, please read this first (grounds must be dried first) and call your local Starbucks to see if they are participating. If you are worried about drying your grounds yourself, you can purchase ready to go recycled coffee grounds HERE.
For my nest boxes, I used dried grass clippings from our yard.
Basically, it costed me nothing to refresh my coop and nest boxes. If you have been around long enough, then you know cheap and easy is the name of my game.
Whatever bedding you use in your chicken coop, let’s go ahead and add it in.
Now let’s get your chicken coop ready for fall
Once you have deep cleaned your coop and added your bedding, it is time to add back anything you took out to hose off, dust the rest of the coop and add your chickens back in.
Wow, That was simple right? Now for my favorite part, You can skip this part if it’s not your cup of fancy but I suggest that you don’t. It’s the best part of being chicken lovers!
It’s time to decorate the coop with some simple fall decor!
Decorating your chicken coop for Fall
Pretty simple decor here-White Pumpkins, mums, corn stalks, and old rusty tin buckets. All simple decorations that you can either grow on your backyard homestead, buy from a local garden center or source locally.
Fall decorating is my absolute favorite time of year. Adding strategically placed pumpkins pretty much everywhere around me is my favorite way to bring fall to our home.
FYI, the chickens may or may not try to eat your pumpkins. Last year, once they got a small taste and realized the pumpkins were actually very yummy- they tore the pumpkins up, so far this year they have not touched them.
At the end of the season we do split the pumpkins open and let them enjoy a treat for all of their hard egg laying efforts. Although, Most of the chickens are molting (not laying eggs for a short period of time) by this time of the season which is even more of a reason for a treat, molting is hard on those girls!
This plow is over 100 years old. It was my great great grandfathers plow that was used two generations to plow the land with a horse attached. The plow actually still works and I plan to use it in my small backyard garden this year.
I have to admit, daily chores here on our backyard farm are much more enjoyable when our chicken coop isn’t an eye sore. Plus, I just really love the simple yet beautiful things in life, like seasonal decorating.
When we built our farmhouse style chicken coop nearly two years ago, I put a lot of thought into the design and how I would like it to look. After all, I am the one who has to see it every day. Our chicken coop was something I saved up for, waited for, and then helped build with my two hands.
It was a dream of mine that my dad helped make come true. 2 years later and I am still just as smitten as the day we finished building it.
Even the ducks waddled on by to check out the fall coop.
I hope you too decide “I am going to make everything around me beautiful, that will be my life.” Elsie De Wolfe. But even if you don’t, It’ll just be nice to have a clean coop for the fall season!
Happy fall decorating ya’ll,
SEE RELATED POST
- See our DIY chicken coop-How to build a beautiful backyard chicken coop
- Simple ways of fall decorating-Farmhouse fall decorating for a small front porch
- More farmhouse decor- 5 cottage style home decor ideas
SHOP OUR COOP
- automated chicken coop door– makes for a super functional chicken coop!
- Galvanized hanging feeder
- A scoop for your coop
- Meal worms-my girls love these!
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