In her new memoir Good Husbandry (which I absolutely loved and would totally recommend to you as a COVID read by the way), the famous ADK farmer/writer Kristin Kimball says that nothing will make you look more stupid than chasing a chicken around.
She’s absolutely right about this. I’ve learned that chickens have minds of their own and if they don’t want to do something, they won’t budge. Bating them, outrunning them, or trying to outsmart them? Doesn’t usually work. Which means that we’re about to have a couple of entertaining weeks on the farm…
You see, every spring when the fields are dry enough and the pasture strong and sturdy enough, we start bringing the animals out to the fields to start the summertime pasture rotations. The laying hens will go first, and then the pigs will follow.
The chickens absolutely love the fresh green pasture and salad bar of bugs and legumes. But it will take some time to help them get acclimated to their new role on the farm – grazing new pasture every week, spreading manure, and laying lots of those gorgeous eggs for you.
So, where does the looking stupid part come into play? We’ll need to spend some time each day chasing around a few of the free-spirited chickens who will, as they’re getting used to the new routine, pop outside of their fence. They’ll need gentle reminders that staying inside the fence with the flock is best, and Greg and I will oblige.
Then, comes the sleep training. We’ll need to go out at night and crawl on the ground to pick up a few of the stragglers who will decide that they prefer to sleep underneath the coop (where they’re more at risk for cold exposure and predation) than inside the coop where they’re safest. One by one, we’ll put them back in their house until they all do this automatically at sun-down.
And then, just as they figure out the fencing and the coop, the young hens will come into laying age. This is exciting, but will make us look silly too, since it takes them a couple of weeks to figure out the nest boxes. This means that we’ll probably step on and crush just as many eggs as we can collect in the first few weeks while we’re stooped over looking for the eggs they’ve hidden someone random in the grass!
We’re in for an interesting couple of weeks, that’s for sure. But with a little patience and a lot of love, we’ll get these girls up to speed which should be just in time for our Summer Egg Share starting next month!
Your Farmers,
Jenney & Greg