Farmers Notes

Our method of raising chicken is not without its drawbacks. And there are probably work-arounds that I have yet to discover that are solutions to these problems. We raise our chicken in portable shelters pictured at the left. They are great in that they are small enough for us to pull with a rope to new pasture each day, bright enough to let in plenty of sunshine, and shady enough to protect from rain, high enough to dissipate heat on hot days, practically perfect in every way… except… in high winds they like to take sail and fly away. A real problem when you have 70 chickens needing that protection! The only solution to this problem discovered so far is staking them to the ground by pounding in rebar posts in each one with a heavy mallet. This is time consuming to the point where you really only want to do this when high winds or thunderstorms are expected. So how can you always make sure you always have stakes installed when you need them?
You subscribe to a weather alert service that sends text messages to your cell phone warning you of impending weather conditions. This is really a great thing as long as it’s not 2AM in the morning and you realized that you didn’t stake yet and you slept through (on purpose) two text message beeps on your phone, and it’s already starting to rain, and it’s the thunder that really woke you up, and… Yes, you get up and wade through the mud in your tennis shoes because you couldn’t find your boots (remember, it’s 2 a.m.) , and stake those shelters!

Thanks for your support.

-Scott