First Snow

The morning after our first snow of the season the chickens were reluctant to come out. When a few did venture out, they flew, hopped and hurried under the hen-a-bago to stand on grass rather than the strange, cold, white stuff. You can see a few in the shadows under their home.

Helpful Chickens

While we raise layers for their eggs (and the delicious stewing hens we get when laying days are over), the natural life of a chicken serves many purposes on the farm.

Chickens love to scratch in the dirt and eat the bugs stirred up by their activity. We moved the New Hampshire Reds onto our future berry patch and while they are doing what comes naturally they are also fertilizing the soil and spreading the leaf mulch and old straw piles for us. Every critter on the farm is skilled with multi-tasking.  For chickens, having access to piles of mulch and straw, is similar to being at an amusement park with free food!

Domestic chickens are descended from jungle fowl so their natural diet is insects, plants, small rodents, lizards and seeds. A "vegetarian" diet is actually not a complete and healthy diet for a chicken. We are grateful for the labor-saving joy these chickens are experiencing. They'll be happy when we share the extra berries with them next year too!

The patch of soil the chickens are rehabilitating is on an area that is part of what was the most worn out of our pastures when we bought the farm 4 years ago. For 4 years we have bush-hogged whatever grew and allowed the plant life to lie on the soil to decompose. For 3 years chickens have been moved across the pasture from one spot to another and we can see the benefit of our efforts. No pesticides, insecticides or herbicides have been used on any part of the farm and the land is healing. As the land heals the plant life changes from weeds to grasses, eroded places vanish as the increasing organic matter in the land enables the soil to absorb the water.

Moving the Hen-a-bago II

Hen-a-bago II attached to the tractor

You might have read about our newest Hen-a-bago II being built and then moved out to pasture. We relocate  Hen-a-bago II once or twice per week to a new section of pasture.  Changing pastures often improves the health of our chickens by giving them new grasses in which to forage for insects as well as "salad" greens.  Rotation also is a form of parasite control as it disrupts the life cycle of many naturally occurring yet undesirable organisms seeking to find a host site in the guts of our chickens.

Chickens riding in Hen-a-bago II

A Finished Hen-a-bago II and The Big Move

The newest Hen-a-bago on pasture being inspected by livestock guardian dog, Sofie.

Our newest Hen-a-Bago was recently finished and moved out to pasture. The move was quite an adventure!
Here are photos of the move and all of the obstructions in the way! The Hen-a-bago II got hooked up to the tractor and Jan took control of the wheel.

Getting connected

 Everything looked fine as Jan pulled out with the Hen-a-bago II in tow.

 But then, as she rounded the large tree in the yard, the first obstacle came into view.

The small redbud tree was spaced just a little too close to the larger tree.

Jan did an excellent job of maneuvering the Hen-a-bago II, but it kept butting up against the larger tree and would not make the pass. 

 So Charlie had to cut the tree down!  (The little one, not the big one!)

We thought the gate opening would be the next obstacle, but Jan steered the Hen-a-bago II through smoothly.  Tight squeeze!

 The next obstacle was a small apple tree just on the other side of the gate.

 The decision was made to just drive over it since it will likely get cut down later. This is one of  our apple trees which has a cedar apple rust and we are going to try and replace the infected trees with varieties more resistant to cedar apple rust.

 Amazingly though, it sprang right back!  Fortunately, because it is the goats' favorite tree for munching.  I guess it's a red delicious. ;-)

It looked like there would be another obstacle, but the tractor and Hen-a-bago II fit through!

Once it was onto clear pasture, it was smooth sailing.

Whew!