Yesterday a nor’easter blew through. The name of the storm refers to the direction that the wind is coming from – the north and east – which around here means it’s whipping off of the Atlantic Ocean. This nor’easter brought drenching cold rain, with stretches of sleet and snow. For more than 24 hours, the rain came down in torrents. The pond is near to overflowing.

The animals stayed inside. Damp air, wet ground, and enclosed chickens pooping in one place, are all a recipe for illness. I can’t count on the sun to dry things out. Rain, drizzle and snow are all predicted for the rest of the week. I usually pick out the manure every few days, and do a good coop clean on the weekend. After yesterday’s downpour, and with more to come, I decided to be proactive in my flock’s care. I got up early and did what I could.

I can’t dry out the runs, but I can rake up leaves and manure. I don’t want the girls to be milling about on rotting vegetation.

Next, I used the fine-tined pitchfork to muck out manure. I also shoveled out a wet area that Phoebe used as her litter box. She usually does her business outside, but when it storms, she goes in a corner. She’s tidy, but that pee just adds to the moisture in the barn, so I cleaned it out.

I put down lots of fresh bedding, which not only dries things out, but also gets the hens active, which helps to keep the girls healthy.

During a nor’easter, you have to close the doors, or everything would be soaked. However, the last thing that you should do during bad weather is to shut the barn up tight. Both of my coops have excellent ventilation, but even so, I opened the doors wide this morning while mucking out. Even though it was drizzling, fresh air is essential.

I also encouraged the girls to get outside. I rarely feed scratch grains, but this morning they got a handful of cracked corn.

In order to keep external parasites in check, and to keep their feathers in good shape, hens need to dust bathe. Obviously, if the run is a mucky mess, they can’t roll around in dirt outside. That’s why I provide them with a sand-filled litter box in the coop. It only works if it’s kept tidy, so I scooped that out this morning, too. (You can see how unappealing it was in this photo taken before I sifted through it.)

Lastly, I’ve been keeping the hens busy with pumpkins, which they peck at all the way down to the skin. They hadn’t quite finished the butternut squash (seen on the right in this photo) but, with the above-freezing temps and dampness, that veg was about to rot, so I tossed it in the compost pile before it could add to the moisture and mess in the coop.

All of these chores took less than a half-hour this morning (including cleaning the goats’ stall which is a story for another day!) It was time well spent.

The first real snowfall of the year was a beauty. It came on Thanksgiving, which made it seem like a holiday gift (at least for us, as we weren’t traveling.) The snow was just wet enough to stick and outline every branch and leaf. Heavy snow can cause damage, but this was only a few inches, so it was pretty but didn’t wreak havoc here in my small corner of New England.

Some snow is too icy, or conversely too fluffy, to hold tracks, but this snow, early in the morning, gave off the secrets of the animals that were out and about.

There were footprints by the stone wall.

There was a distinctive pattern of four footprints, and then three and a hint of a tail drag. This was a large animal.

A close look supplied ample details: claw tips and furry paws.

Fisher cat.

The fisher cat is a large weasel and is a fearsome predator. It has massive claws, sharp teeth, and a habit of killing everything that it can and caching the extra in a vee in a tree. (If you come across a dozen dead squirrels wedged between two branches in a tree trunk, you’ll know who put them there.) Fisher cats will rip down fencing to get into a coop. In one hunting spree, a fisher will kill all of your chickens and all you’ll find are a few feathers in the morning. Fisher cats are known to scream. My neighbor’s old dog treed a fisher and the sound was chilling. She pulled her dog away and put him inside. You don’t want your dog tangling with an angry fisher cat.

I followed the tracks. This fisher cat skirted by our fence, but didn’t go in. It thought about it. This fisher cat loped through the front yard and our side woods.

It stopped and circled a few trees, and here you can see it deciding what to do next.

Then it went on it’s way.

I’m sure that the squirrel who left these tracks on our stone wall was relieved to see it go.

Note: A big thank you to Steve who I woke up to take these pictures (it’s tricky photographing in snow.) Tracks don’t remain sharp for long. Another fifteen minutes, and a few degrees warmer, and the tracks would no longer have been clear.

One of the reasons that I like keeping chickens is that it gives me an excuse to have a barn in my backyard. I love barns.

Even if you have a small coop, you can still call it a barn! I think that barns have a beauty born of practicality and use. First and foremost, they have a purpose. Each design decision must make the animals’ needs a priority.

What your animals stand on can make the difference between health and sickness, can determine air quality, ease of cleaning, and predator control. Here are your coop flooring choices:

Dirt
Dirt is not a good idea. Yes, chickens love to dig in it, but that’s the only positive attribute. It holds onto ammonia, manure, parasites, and moisture. Predators can burrow in. I have friends who have an antique barn. They sectioned off a corner for their hens. Within a month they were overrun with rats. They moved the hens to what had been a concrete dog run, and the rat problem disappeared. I am not a proponent of the deep litter system, which is sometimes done on a dirt base. Read more about that here.

Wood
Wood provides some protection from predators if you repair and block off any gnawed-on boards. One downside of wood is that it can hold moisture. Also, mites can take up residence in wood and they are very hard to eradicate. Many prefab coops come with plywood floors, which, on the plus side, is inexpensive and is fairly easy to keep clean. For an added measure of tidiness, you can put down vinyl flooring. (You can find cheap remnants at carpet stores.)

Hardware Cloth
I only include this because I have recently seen prefab coops being sold with hardware cloth (sturdy wire mesh) floors. Chickens should not be kept for any length of time on wire! (The exception is the anti-broody coop, but that’s only 4 days.) Chicken feet will get sores, or worse, from wire. Hens can’t move easily on wire, and they can’t scratch. Some of these coops are coming from a manufacturer in Texas, who claims that they are perfectly suited for cold weather. They are not, as cold air will draft right up to your hen’s bottoms. Please avoid hardware cloth floors.

Concrete
This is the flooring that I prefer. It is predator proof. Here you can see the foundation of my barn. Nothing can get in.

Concrete is easy to keep clean. I actually enjoy sweeping the barn.

In the summer, the floor stays cool. In the winter, however, it does hold onto cold. The goats’ stall is lined with a rubber mat, which insulates them from the chill. It’s easier on their legs, too. (Caper, you might have noticed, is lame. He’s had a bone chip in his knee since he was little. Soft footing is a kindness to him.)

Chickens don’t need a rubber mat. However, in the winter I do add a bit of extra bedding.

Concrete doesn’t harbor mites, moisture or smells. If there’s ever an outbreak of disease, I can easily shovel out all of the bedding, vacuum up dust, and disinfect. The downside is that it’s expensive and permanent. You have to be committed to having that barn. But, as I said at the start, I love barns.