After weeks and weeks of sub freezing temps, we actually hit a high today of 39F! I decided to take advantage of this heat wave and clean out some of the coop. I have a deep wood chip litter in my coop, and for the most part it is working just great this winter. For the longest time, I have not had to clean out the poo underneath the roost because the chickens would just scratch the droppings into the wood chips. To encourage them even more, I'd throw some scratch over in that area. For the longest time, the poo was magically disappearing into the wood chips.
Perfect!
For past couple of weeks, it has been very cold with nighttime low getting as far down as -22F. The poo under the roosts started to build up like a frozen turd iceberg. It is about as hard as concrete. Anyway, my goal today was to clean up some of that frozen poo and lay down some fresh wood chips.
A few years ago, I bought a Ryobi 18v cultivator for the garden. At the time, I thought I was buying a mini tiller, but it is not nearly as powerful as a tiller. The cultivator works best for fluffing up already cultivated garden soil. Because it is so small, I can actually use it around plants in the garden where I would never be able to use my tillers.
Anyway, I am always looking for other uses for my tools. I took my 18v cultivator out to the coop to see how it would work on the frozen poo. At first try, it just bounced off the frozen poo block, but I continued to hold it steady and soon it started breaking up the frozen poo built up under the roost. Big chunks got broken up into smaller pieces the longer I had the cultivator over that area. When I got down to the wood chips below the frozen poo, the cultivator started mixing the poo into the wood chips. That is good, but I decided to rake some of the frozen poo pieces off first and reduce the load going back into the wood chips.
Then I went to get some fresh wood chips I had stored in 17 gallon tubs outside a shed. I should have covered the tubs. The wood chips turned out to be like a giant wood chip ice cube. Evidently, rain and/or melting snow had gone down through the chips and had frozen everything into a solid. I turned over the tub and the wood chip ice cube came out in a perfect block. I could stand on it without any problem. That was not going to work for me.
So once again, I turned to my 18v cultivator and let is loose on the wood chip cube. In just a few minutes, it had broken down the wood chips into nice, small, fresh pieces. Fortunately, lots of the chips inside the cube were not waterlogged, so I just raked out the chips in the coop giving everything a nice fresh topping. It would have been better if the chips had been completely dry, but live and learn for next winter, I guess.
I don't know if Ryobi still makes the 18v cultivator, but here is a picture of the unit I bought. I know other companies sold very similar models, and I would think they would work just as well. This has proven to be a real labor saver for me and my back appreciates it. I don't think I could have done nearly as good of a job on today's cleaning with shovels and pitchforks. I'm all for anything that makes my chores easier and thought I would share it with the BYC community.
Perfect!
For past couple of weeks, it has been very cold with nighttime low getting as far down as -22F. The poo under the roosts started to build up like a frozen turd iceberg. It is about as hard as concrete. Anyway, my goal today was to clean up some of that frozen poo and lay down some fresh wood chips.
A few years ago, I bought a Ryobi 18v cultivator for the garden. At the time, I thought I was buying a mini tiller, but it is not nearly as powerful as a tiller. The cultivator works best for fluffing up already cultivated garden soil. Because it is so small, I can actually use it around plants in the garden where I would never be able to use my tillers.
Anyway, I am always looking for other uses for my tools. I took my 18v cultivator out to the coop to see how it would work on the frozen poo. At first try, it just bounced off the frozen poo block, but I continued to hold it steady and soon it started breaking up the frozen poo built up under the roost. Big chunks got broken up into smaller pieces the longer I had the cultivator over that area. When I got down to the wood chips below the frozen poo, the cultivator started mixing the poo into the wood chips. That is good, but I decided to rake some of the frozen poo pieces off first and reduce the load going back into the wood chips.
Then I went to get some fresh wood chips I had stored in 17 gallon tubs outside a shed. I should have covered the tubs. The wood chips turned out to be like a giant wood chip ice cube. Evidently, rain and/or melting snow had gone down through the chips and had frozen everything into a solid. I turned over the tub and the wood chip ice cube came out in a perfect block. I could stand on it without any problem. That was not going to work for me.
So once again, I turned to my 18v cultivator and let is loose on the wood chip cube. In just a few minutes, it had broken down the wood chips into nice, small, fresh pieces. Fortunately, lots of the chips inside the cube were not waterlogged, so I just raked out the chips in the coop giving everything a nice fresh topping. It would have been better if the chips had been completely dry, but live and learn for next winter, I guess.
I don't know if Ryobi still makes the 18v cultivator, but here is a picture of the unit I bought. I know other companies sold very similar models, and I would think they would work just as well. This has proven to be a real labor saver for me and my back appreciates it. I don't think I could have done nearly as good of a job on today's cleaning with shovels and pitchforks. I'm all for anything that makes my chores easier and thought I would share it with the BYC community.
