Every once in a while, I get the urge to make the chicken coop look like one of those beautiful backyard chicken setups you see on Pinterest.
You know the ones. Everything is clean, the bedding is fresh, the run is perfectly maintained, and the chickens are just wandering around looking adorable.
Well, I had one of those moments.
With winter coming, it was time to get the chicken coop and run cleaned up and ready for the colder weather. And for approximately five minutes, everything looked fantastic.
I forgot to take pictures.
There is no evidence any of this happened.
The Great Chicken Coop Cleanup
This wasn’t just a quick sweep and some fresh bedding. We actually put some work into getting the coop ready for winter.
First, we added a poop deck.
Yes, a poop deck. Apparently, this is a perfectly normal thing to discuss when you own chickens.
The idea is to make cleaning up under the roosts easier, since that’s where a good portion of the overnight mess ends up. I’m all for anything that makes chicken poop less of a project.
We also decided to try something different with the bedding. Instead of our usual pine flakes, we switched to pellets.
I’d been hearing good things about them, so we figured we’d give them a shot.
And so far? I’m impressed.
The pellets soak up the mess, and instead of constantly replacing bedding, you just stir everything around. Supposedly, they can last for months before needing to be changed.
We’ll see about that part, but so far, I don’t think I’m going back to pine flakes inside the coop.
There is one slightly unsettling thing about them, though.
The sound.
Walking across those pellets sounds like you’re in a horror movie. Every step makes this weird crunching noise that makes me feel like something terrible is about to happen.
It’s a little creepy, honestly.
But if the trade-off is less time cleaning chicken poop, I’ll happily star in my own low-budget horror film every time I walk into the coop.
We also swept and dusted everything, put down lime and Sweet PDZ, and gave the nesting boxes a good cleaning. We even added a barrier to keep the new pellets from wandering into the storage area.
Because apparently even chicken bedding needs boundaries around here.
Then we organized everything.
And I mean everything.
For once, the supplies were where they belonged, the coop was clean, and the whole setup looked like we actually knew what we were doing.
I was pretty proud of it.
Five Minutes. That’s All We Got.
When we finished, I stood back and admired our work.
The coop looked great. The run looked great. Everything was clean, organized, and ready for winter.
Naturally, I took forgot to take pictures.
The chickens wasted absolutely no time undoing our hard work.
Fresh bedding? Let’s scratch that around.
Nice, tidy run? Not anymore.
Everything where it belongs? Well, we can’t have that.
Within minutes, they were back to doing whatever it is chickens do all day that makes such a ridiculous mess.
And just like that, my beautiful chicken setup was back to looking like an actual chicken coop.
I don’t know why I expected anything different.
These are the same birds that will spend half an afternoon scratching in the exact same spot, then act like they’ve discovered something groundbreaking when one of them finds a bug.
They have absolutely no appreciation for my organizational skills.
Pinterest vs. Actual Farm Life
Here’s the thing about those pretty pictures of the coop.
They’re real.
It really was that clean. Everything really was that organized. The run really did look that nice.
But what the pictures don’t show is what happened five minutes later.
Because this is a farm. There are chickens living here. And chickens are not particularly concerned with maintaining a certain aesthetic.
There will be feathers. There will be dirt. There will be bedding kicked into places bedding has no business being.
And there will always be at least one chicken standing in the middle of everything, looking at me like I’m the one causing problems.
I love having chickens. I love collecting eggs, watching their ridiculous little personalities, and having them wandering around doing chicken things.
But I’ve accepted that my chicken coop is never going to look like a magazine spread for more than a few minutes.
That’s okay.
I’m just going to keep forgetting to take pictures during those few minutes and keep pretending this is how we live.
One Thing I Actually Can Keep Organized: The Eggs
Speaking of chickens, I made myself a little printable to keep track of how many eggs we’re collecting each month.
Because while I apparently have zero control over what the chickens do to their living quarters, I can at least keep a decent record of what they’re producing.
It’s a simple Monthly Egg Count Log where you can jot down how many eggs you collect each day and see your total for the month.
Nothing fancy. Just a handy little sheet for anyone else who keeps chickens and likes to know how many eggs those feathered freeloaders are contributing to the household.
And with the shorter days and colder weather coming, it’ll be interesting to see how our egg production changes through the winter.
Grab the Free Monthly Egg Count Log →
Print one for each month, stick it on a clipboard or in your farm binder, and keep track however works for you.
Anyway, Back to the Chickens…
The coop is ready for winter. The chickens are happy. And the run is already a mess again.
I’d call that a successful project.
The new pellets are working out great so far, the poop deck should make cleanup easier, and at least we know everything got a good cleaning before winter.
Maybe someday I’ll have one of those picture-perfect chicken setups that stays beautiful all the time.
But probably not with actual chickens living in it.
And I forgot the pictures.
