The universe has blessed us with a nice mixed flock thanks to our friend Kyle who had to move and could not take his girls with him. When we moved here 2 years ago we converted a former goat pen into a hen house. This past spring we secured the future chicken run against the dogs, coyotes, raccoons, possums, hawks, owls and whatever other predators that might care to dine on some fresh chicken. Then we got busy with the garden and never got around to getting any chickens.
I built a small chicken tractor last week, loaded it in the back of my truck on Saturday and went to pick the girls up in the middle of the deluge that hit our part of Georgia. They immediately settled at their new digs. We have been blessed with some tasty eggs and lots of entertainment this first week.
These are going to be working girls. The chicken tractor is sized to fit over the garden beds so we can use the girls to eat the weeds and insects, scratch up the soil and improve the fertility with their poop.
Of course we had to name them. The buff Ameraucana is Ginger. Her name was inspired by a red-headed friend of ours. The white Ameraucana is Big Mamma. My protege´Laurel named her that because she likes to herd the 3 Silkies around. The black Silkie is named Missie after Missy Elliot. She really acts like a rap star. The larger of the 2 white ones is called Prissie. She is a badass. She is named for Darrly Hannah's character Pris in Blade Runner. The little one is Sissie because well, that's what she is. Of course the Barred Rock has to be Barbie.
Now that we have them we can close one of our production loops. The worms will feed the chickens; the chickens will provide us eggs; the manure and straw from the hen house will feed the compost pile which will in turn feed the worms
Thanks Universe.
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