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Almost Egg Time

Reader Contribution by Lori Havens
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Here at Farm on the Hill in Richland Center, Wisconsin, “Mud Season” has begun in earnest. We eagerly await the pastures complete thawing and firming up enough to bring our first critters out to the green grass. This year, it’ll be the chickens.

The broilers are still in the brooder in the basement, and they are growing like weeds! It’s amazing to watch the way they change, literally before our eyes.

In the tractor shed, farmer Bryan Havens has added the roof and the sides to the Egg Mobile in preparation for the laying hens to join us in just a couple more weeks.

The two photos below show the interior of the Egg Mobile. The nesting box will be hung on the left side wall closest to you in this first photo. On the outside of the Egg Mobile, behind the nesting box, there will be a hinged panel, which we can raise and prop open in order to collect all the eggs laid in the nest boxes from the outside.

At the back on the left side of the photo below, you can see that Bryan has left an opening. He’ll be building a “trap door” type of structure that will, when open, serve as the ramp that the hens will use to go in and out of the Egg Mobile. At night, Bryan will call them all back inside, and then he will close that ramp door up tight and lock it to keep predators out, and the hens in.

We have purchased 20 certified organic laying hens from a farm to the south of ours, and plan to pick them up in another week. So we’ll have LOTS of activity happening really, really soon!

Stay tuned for more news from This Old Farmhouse!