Fresh Eggs Daily® | Lisa Steele

Each spring it's a good idea to do a deep chicken coop cleaning. I rake out all the bedding, scrape the roosting bars, clean out the nesting boxes, and get my coop ready for spring chicks!  Keeping a clean chicken coop is, of course, optimal for the health of your flock. Your coop doesn't need to be spotless, but it does need to be dry and free of mold, mildew, parasites and the like.  It may surprise you that I only do a full-on, down to the studs, deep cleaning twice a year. Yup, that's it.

Does your chicken coop have a mirror in it? How about a chandelier? Maybe a thermometer or some vintage egg baskets? Check out the decor in my posh chicken coop. Of course, the main purpose of a chicken coop is to keep your flock safe at night from predators, cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but adding a little "cute" factor never hurts. I've been having fun decorating our coop and wanted to share some of the coop decor elements, as well as explain why they're functional, as well as decorative, in many cases.

Keeping your chicken coop clean isn't hard with these three easy tips. I get lots of questions from readers on a wide variety of topics ranging from health issues, questions about hatching and raising chicks, to questions about egg laying and chicken behavior.  But one question I've started getting more and more frequently is "How do you keep your coop so clean?" 

Chickens don't need heat in the winter, but there are some things you can do to prepare your flock for winter. Winterizing your coop is a good place to start. Chickens do far better in the cold than you might imagine, but there are still a few simple things you can do to winterize your chicken coop and make it more comfortable for your flock As the temperatures drop below freezing, a few modifications to your coop will help it stay warmer through the winter months (and no, I'm not talking about adding heat! )

Save money by mixing your own herbs and edible flowers for your nesting  boxes and chicken coop. Everybody loves sprinkling aromatic herbs in their chicken coop .  Am I right? Fresh or dried, so many different types of herbs and edible flowers look pretty, smell nice and are even thought to keep rodents and other pests out of your coop .

Adding some aromatic herbs and edible flowers to your chickens nesting boxes is not only pretty, it's practical too. I love growing herbs. For the most part, they're really easy to grow, not picky about the soil conditions or even whether you water them regularly...and they add a delicious flavor to my cooking. Well, there's another way to put the herbs and edible flowers you grow to good use - in your chicken nesting boxes and coop. Fresh or dried, most herbs have wonderful benefits for your flock !

What does natural chicken keeping mean? To me, it means raising my flock without using chemicals or antibiotics. I have been raising our flock of backyard chickens naturally for nearly a decade now without giving them any chemicals or antibiotics. I raised chickens as a kid and grew up across the street from my grandparents chicken farm. And I have been sharing my natural chicken keeping methods here on the blog since 2011.