Peckinghan Palace summer clean

First thing this morning before Mr L was up, I bagged up all the cooked mixes from yesterday.  I ache after all the work I did up the allotment yesterday and all the food preparations, so intended to sit about and have an easy Sunday.  But it's hard for me to sit still!

 So I decided to give Peckingham Palace a real good clean.  I clean it out every two weeks, and give it a scrub as and when it needs it, but hadn't pressure washed it so far this year - so that's what I did.

Firstly I got Mr L to help me wheel it onto the lawn and off it's paved area.

 Then I dismantled it bit by bit.

 Shovelled up all the hemcore bedding ready for me to pressure wash the slabs later.

 Which I did - they needed to dry off so don't look good in the above photo

 I pressure washed everything, making sure to concentrate on any holes in the mouldings to get rid of any spiders, or creepy crawlies that might be lurking there.  Thank goodness it is made of plastic, including the roosting bars - it makes cleaning so much easier. I left everything out in the sun to dry.

Whilst I pressure washed all the framework, the roosting bars, the plastic tarp - the lot, then put it all back together again.

 The chickens came and inspected my handiwork and gave it their approval, and happily went to bed this evening without any trouble.

I'll be leaving it in this position for a week, then moving it across still on the grass for another week, then returning it back onto the patio the following week.  The reason being that for some of the time in the second week they will need to be 'confined to barracks', and being used to freeranging all day,  I always feel so guilty that they don't have any lawn to play on.  They get fresh cabbages cut from my garden each day, and have plenty of room to run about in - but you can't beat a nice lawn to scratch about in can you.

I know that I am a silly soppy, and you'll be thinking, 'they're only chickens for goodness sake' but at least I know that they'll be happy whilst they are confined to their pen.

They all got a dusting of Diatom - as did Peckingham Palace as usual - and the girls got a drop of liquid louse preventative too - just in case - it's been a really hot summer!