Worst job of the week

Today it has not been raining (much) so I braced myself, girded my loins, put on top-to-toe waterproofs and entered the chook run with the wheelbarrow, shovel and fork, to do a job which has been on my mind for days.

The rain of the last couple of weeks, with the occasional warm day in between had turned the normally earthy floor of the open half of the chook run into stinking slurry. A combination of rain, mud, chook poo, old uneaten cabbage leaves, more chook poo, overgrown carrots and grass cuttings makes for a pungent mix. 

Poor chooks. 

My mission was to fork and shovel up as much of the offending (offensive) gloop as possible. 

Three wheel-barrow-loads later it is still muddy in there, but no longer anything like as stinky and the chooks were very happily pottering about unearthing bugs from the soil I have exposed for them. The slurry has been tipped into the compost bin, where it will add a certain je ne sais quoi.

Once I'd finished, and before I could do anything else, I hosed and wiped myself down from head to foot, washed and scrubbed the tools and barrow - and chucked my gloves into a bucket of water before washing them properly. 

Bean supervised.

I hope the chooks are grateful.