PICNIC

I bought a dozen eggs from Wes today at the PSU farmers market. You can see a few blue eggs, these are from Araucana chickens, and I wonder if the few blue eggs at the co-op are from the same breed. He has 800 chickens he tends at his uncles farm. They are all kept in 7 mobile coops, ranging in size from 5 by 7 to 8 by 16. Instead of wheels they sit on skis, and are towed around with a tractor. He doesn’t use fences, I was surprised at that. Apparently the chickens sometimes wander off and lay their eggs in the woods, sending Wes hunting for them.

The hens have been underperforming since early in the winter. 33 hens were producing about 2 eggs a day. Patrick and Holly got some more hens, I don’t know where, some very pretty golden girls. They also got these pullets and built a pullet house. (A pullet is simply a young hen.) Things are a little crazy in here, as you can see, but soon they’ll be out of the little house and into the wide world of the chicken run!