recalculating

Today there are time for changes on the farm. A beautiful, sunny day, with temperatures in the 50's, it is the perfect time to implement a few changes we have discussed, but not had time to do, for months.

The pen for the laying hens is one of the oldest, and hence the most difficult to move, of all of the pens on the property. Our solution has been to move the girls every few days, along with a feathernet fence, a system that is said to be easy to move but in fact is not at all. It is really a hassle, requires more than one person, is bulky and difficult to get tight against the ground unless your land is level and has no grass. Not a description of our property.

So the girls are split up today. The oldest ones into one pen, the Arucana's into another, and the youngest, just laying and about to be laying girls into another. The pecking order must be reestablished, and the girls go a little wonky when this happens..they run and poke at each other, egg production goes down a bit, and for a few days it feels chaotic. Then things settle back down, but today it is a little heightened around here..