Forest pasture experiment phase

I’m
afraid our chicken
pasture contest is a
bit of a wash.  As the weeds grow taller and taller and our pudgy
chickens become slower and slower, it’s becoming clear that there will
be no scratching the earth bare at this rate.  Our Dark
Cornish chickens
don’t seem to be as avid foragers as I’d hoped they’d be, although they
do like picking through the huge mound of weeds I keep wheelbarrowing
into their pasture.



What
you all probably care about the most is — who wins?!  I’ve
decided to name Bethany our grand prize winner since she picked the
furthest away date which is closest to infinity.  Bethany, drop me
an email with your address and your onions and flowers will be in the
mail next week.



The more scientific
among you may be asking — what now?  I still want to have the
chickens scratch up some of the earth to expedite grain planting, so
we’re going to subdivide their current pasture in hopes that a smaller
enclosure will actually get scratched bare.  Given the proximity
of butchering day,
we may wait to build more pastures until next year, and will be
rethinking our broiler experiment — maybe we’d be better off having
the slow, fat broilers in tractors and our perky layers achieving self
sufficiency on pasture?  Stay tuned for future experimentation!