Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chickens on pasture

We keep our chickens near the house for the winter. This is for several reasons: it's easier to care for them when they are nearby, we can get electricity to the coop for a light and to heat the water bowl, and they spend the winter fertilizing the garden. 

Once the grass greens-up, we move them out of the dirt and on to fresh pasture. That's what we did this weekend. 


First we take down the electro-net fence.  Then Farmer John hooks the coop to the tractor using a chain. Next he drags the whole coop to it's new spot. We set up the fence in the new spot, and let the girls out of their coop. 



Sometimes the chickens are hesitant to explore their new pasture. On Sunday, everyone poured out of the coop. They must have been so excited to see that green grass. 



I have to imagine that after spending the winter in the coop and on dirt, being able to scratch in the grass and eat bugs, made the chickens very happy. And Farmer John and I were happy to watch them peck around for a while. The only thing that would have made us happier would have been if Farmhand Rich was here with his rat shooting skills. There were several that scampered off as soon as the coop moved away from it's winter spot. Ick!

5 comments:

  1. Mollie,
    Your post made me think of a recent conversation I had with a community outreach person to get chickens for our school yard. His buisness name is Nap Town Chickens. He has sponsored a "Tour de Coop" where interested individuals ride bikes to different urban chicken coops. (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nap-Town-Chickens/100885456664015) Jen and I love the posts and learning about life on your farm. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. I wonder where the "Tour de Coop" is held? There was something similar last year in the Chicago area. That one was more to see coop architecture than chickens!

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  3. That is very interesting about the 'Tour de Coop'. I was also amazed at the whole mobile coop thing. You two are certainly inventive and creative and all those other ive words! LOVE the posts. Do you have bees? I've been wanting to ask.

    When we were little, Nanny had two chickens on her wall in the kitchen. They were made from cardboard. All the colors were indian corn! They were so neat!

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  4. Mom,
    The Tour de Coop is held in Indianpolis (Broad Ripple). We have a few teachers at Brebeuf who have chickens at home, but I cannot find anyone who wants to be responsible for a chicken coop at school (including me)!

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  5. Oh John, you should do it! Farmer John hatched chicks when he was at the high school. They didn't think the chicks were going to hatch, but one finally did and survived a long weekend on it's own in the incubator. We brought her to the farm and she was known as "Super Chicken!" I bet your kids would love it - maybe you could just send the chicks home with them :)

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