Author: Anna & Mark

After some thought, Mark
and I decided to just stick to last year’s method of moving the first
set of month-old
chicks to their
designated rotational pasture system.  While I wouldn’t have
minded having them scratch around our kitchen peach, I wasn’t really
confident the tractor provided enough shelter for youngsters who aren’t
quite fully feathered.  Chicken health generally trumps everything
else in our book, so to the coop they went.

Due to low
viability of our first set of eggs, we only had seventeen
chicks.  I’ve found the easiest way to transfer older chicks from
spot to spot is for each of us to stick a chick under each arm and
carry them there.  All was going well (four trips = sixteen
chicks) when I left the last chick alone in the topless brood
coop.  You wouldn’t think a chick could fly out the top, but
chickens (especially youngsters) hate to be alone.  The last
leghorn was so terrified of being left behind that she fled the coop
and ended up hiding under the back porch.

Luckily, chicken biology
is pretty basic.  Since her friends were out of sight, safety for
our escaped chick meant the brood coop.  I popped the lid back on,
propped the door open, walked ten feet away, and she scurried
inside.  Shut the door, take off the lid, and a minute later I was
carrying the last chick over to the coop.  They’ll stay shut up
for a day or so to turn this new coop into home, then will be out
exploring spring pasture.

Several quality
permaculturalists have used the term “grass farmer” to refer to people
who focus on the health of the pasture first and foremost. 
Although I do care very much about improving our soil, I have to admit
that I’m not a grass farmer.  If I was, I probably would have
waited another week before moving our chickens in from the
woods and back onto
their rotational pastures.

But while Mark was
working the kinks out of our DIY
dog doors,
the hens were showing up in the garden every morning.  Meanwhile,
my vegetable
seedlings were getting to the point that the flock was able to make
quite a mess between dawn and 7:30 AM (when I poke my head out the door
to
make sure no disaster has befallen the garden overnight).

So I stuffed the
chickens back behind fences, then breathed a big sigh of
relief.  And the weather was kind enough to turn beautiful and
spring-like at long last, so they ended up having plenty to eat. 
It
turns out that about a week before the lawnmower comes out probably is
the best time to turn the flock onto pasture after all.



(If you want a more
scientific take on rotational chicken pastures, you’ll find much more
than you probably want to know in my ebook Permaculture
Chicken: Pasture Basics.  And don’t forget to
add a POOP-free chicken waterer to your happy chicken
system.)