Return of the Kitchen

It's the same every year. At first they are so small and sweet, peeping gently throughout the day. Then they get bigger, and become more fun to watch as they run around and jump on each other. Their feathers start to come in and a lemon baby becomes a russet brown bird with black spots. Sometimes you just don't know what the end color will be and it's a surprise.

But then again, they are chickens after all. They make a hideous mess, flinging wood chips around. And as their new feathers come in the amount of dust and dander they create is amost unbelievable. The plants are covered in a thick layer, and even if I dusted the first floor every day it would barely keep up. By the end I resort to using the brush attachment on the vacuum and suck dust from the leaves of plants, from the windowsills, from the light fixtures.

Oh yes, and they smell. Without almost daily cleaning the kitchen smells like a barnyard.


So today was the day. Harold is off at his new home, so I cleaned out the chicken coop and put in an extra thick layer of wood chips. I put a 100 watt bulb in the lamp (it comes on automatically at dusk and off at dawn) to help them get used to the cold. The girls have at least the first set of their adult feathers and with the way they pile on each other to sleep at night I don't think they'll have a problem getting warm. Actually, the colder air will encourage their bodies to produce more robust feathers so it will in the end help them grow up faster. The entrance to the nest boxes is blocked off so that Gladys can continue to sleep there if she wants to. I have a feeling she's nesting in the trees again but I wanted to give her the option.

Then I spent three hours cleaning the kitchen. I'm not done yet, but the majority of the mess has been eradicated. It took lots of vinegar and sweeping and mopping and scrubbing but the kitchen is mine again. I even ironed my new tablecloth from Cabo (thanks, Elisa, haggler extraordinaire!) and smoothed it over the table for a smattering of spring color.