Thursday, March 31, 2011

Poultry Progress

Here you can see the progress of the chicken tractor. It's moved forward each day, leaving a patch of thoroughly eaten-down grass behind as the hens are treated to greener grass and fatter grubs. Supposedly the grass will grow back a lot more luxurious thanks to the mobile fertilizer.

I'm really a fan of the Barred Rock hens.

They're pretty fat and happy right now.

This chubby biddy right here lays some of the most beautiful green eggs ever.

Somebody, apparently, couldn't quite make it to the nesting boxes in time. I wonder who it was...?

I won't name any names, but I have my suspicions.

15 comments:

Lisa Gale said...

Is that seriously how it is done?!?! That is soooo cool, and hilARIOUS!! I am absolutely fascinated. I mean, I just figured out that chicken broth comes from chickens, not cans....so I'm fascinated by pretty much everything at this point. But that is really so interesting!!!

Farmer's City Wife said...

Hehehe, I don't know if that's "how it's done" but it's how we do it :).
Inspired by your post, actually, I just made a few gallons of chicken stock and actually FROZE it (I almost ALWAYS turn it into soup immediately and then lament my lack of stock throughout the week). Yay for blogging inspiration :). Enjoy Mom's Day Away tomorrow, and please post about it when you get back.

patty said...

your ladies are very pretty! i can vouch for how green those rectangles will be where your chickens have been...i suppose it is a good analogy for how God works with us, stripping us down to nothing and building us back up better than before.

Marie said...

How's the egg eating? The chickens eating them, that is...Did you solve the problem?

Amanda Crouch said...

That is so cool! This may be the way I could convince my husband to have chickens one day (well, after we actually have land that is - haha). I would agree that the grass will come back greener - in addition to it being fertilized, grass also "likes" to be utilized. Grazing it (I guess that is what you would call it with chickens) stimulates it to grow and produce more biomass (as long as you don't overgraze it and kill off the root systems - it would seem that would be pretty hard to do with chickens!). In areas where the grass is not being grazed, they burn it for the same effect. (I have a degree in Range Management and used to work for the USDA as a Range Specialist - can you tell that I miss it? :-) You probably already knew that since you and your husband have cattle, but it is fun for me to "talk shop" about that stuff - even if it is by commenting on a blog.... :-)

Amanda (GlimpsingHeaven) said...

I typed up a whole post already, but it went away - I'm not sure if it waiting to be approved or I lost it. If this is the second comment from me, I'm sorry (by all means delete it!) Anyway, I just wanted to say that is so cool! This may be the way that I could one day convince my husband to have chickens (bad childhood memories of cleaning chicken coops have made him swear off of chickens forever...). We don't have land yet, but one day ( I hope!). I would agree about the grass growing back greener. Not only does the natural fertilizer work, but the grass "likes" to be utilized. Grazing it (I guess you would call it that with chickens) stimulates it to produce more biomass as long as you don't overgraze it and kill off the root systems (which would seem pretty hard to do with chickens). My degree is in Range Management and I used to work for the USDA as a Range Specialist - it is so much fun to "talk shop" about this kind of stuff. You probably already knew that about the grass since you and your husband have cattle (or you did last year when you posted pictures), but it is fun to mention it anyway.... (Can you tell that I miss working with the ranchers and thinking about grass all day? :-)

Jennifer said...

I *love* the lawn mower/fertilizer method y'all have!! Killing two birds with one stone- I like it! (Although that analogy, probably not the best.) :P

Also, the more I look at that chicken house, the more I can imagine a people-sized house just like it... Maybe add some paint and some cute shutters, possibly a door, some plumbing (unless you're going to fertilize the farm on a much larger scale!), and voila! ;) Still praying about your land and future home! :)

Sylvia Smith said...

Are you ever going to continue with the Love Story?? Every time I see the blog light up in my Google Reader with (1), I think, "Maybe it's the next edition of 'Our Love Story'"--and then no matter how good your post is, I'm disappointed when it's not that. :D

Farmer's City Wife said...

I can't wait to see the lushness next year!
Excellent analogy (although of course all analogies break down at some point... as my husband so maturely pointed out, God doesn't fertilize us in quite the same way).

Farmer's City Wife said...

Our solution is that we pay taxes to the chickens. They eat what they want and leave us the rest. So far we've always got enough eggs to supply ourselves and our in-laws with so it's working out that way. Our next solution will be to start over with a new set of chicks who don't know how yummy eggs taste (and rear them differently so they never find out).

Farmer's City Wife said...

I had no idea you had a degree in Range Management! Let's definitely "talk shop" if/when we buy this property, 'cause I'll need help setting up a rotational grazing plan.
I also knew it was good for the grass but had no idea why -- that's so fascinating. Thanks, Amanda!

Farmer's City Wife said...

Hehehe, I got a sadistic chuckle out of that :).

I DID promise my husband I'd paint it -- maybe this weekend! I also wanted to put little green shutters up, but we'll see how cost-prohibitive that is. I do want to fashion it a mini dream house :).

Thanks for the prayers!

Farmer's City Wife said...

Yes, it's actually slated for publication next week sometime. Last night, in fact, I went over the rest of the story with my husband (it's one of our favorite in-house dates) to do some fact checking. :)

Lisa Gale said...

Well Hot Dog! Thanks! I am such a beginner cook that everything is still a first for me and I'm having a blast. You must come to Mom's Day Away next year! Begin budgeting today with a dollar aside every day so you can come! I will blog soon :)

Farmer's City Wife said...

They should have a West Coast one next year ;).

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