They come about when we notice something that isn’t quite optimized, maybe in terms of time efficiency or wasted resources.
And then we do something about it, usually in a way that’s unique, inexpensive, and often totally out of the box.
In truth, we’ve built some pretty cool farm hacks over the years. But this new one Greg developed over the winter gets an A+ rating and the real winner in my book.
First things first, though, to understand this hack, you need a basic understanding of our laying hens’ setup – we utilize two big snazzy communal nest boxes for our laying hens.
They work quite well in that when a chicken does her business, the box is designed so that her freshly laid egg immediately rolls down a gentle slope into a receptacle for us to collect easily from the outside of the coop each day.
It’s far and away better than the old-fashioned setup where you wind up with tons of individual boxes that each need to be bedded with straw and cleaned up daily.
But there’s still one minor problem with our setup here, which happens when the chickens use the nest boxes (which are intended for laying only) as a comfy place to sleep at night.
You see, when the hens sleep in the nest boxes, they inevitably poop in the nest boxes. Which means those precious organic eggs that are laid for you the following morning are dirtier and take more time and effort for us to clean!
Enter Greg’s latest and greatest farm hack, which involves, of all things, a cheap battery-powered timer and a magnetic latch. You’ve got to watch it in action HERE!
Your Farmers,
Jenney & Greg
PS – We have so many delicious options at the Farm Store this week. From butt roasts to bratwurst, you can’t go wrong. Order ahead online through our updated online store or drop in and check out what’s available.
PPS – We offering two special deals this week through July 2nd: our special BBQ Bundles and 25% off rib roasts. Be sure to take advantage of these before they disappear!