December 27th, 2013

Today when farmboy and I went to feed the animals, we were greeted by one of the sad but real parts of farming.  A chicken had flown into the goat pen, and became a chew toy for the overgrown Great Pyrenees puppy.  He didnt mean to hurt it, but it was so much fun to play with and tasty to chew on... unfortunately she didnt make it.  And sadly, this isnt the first time he has done this.  We quickly went to work re-designing the portable chicken fence. Our hope is to making it more difficult for the chickens to fly into the goat pen.  So far so good.  Our other design had a flaw in that it was surrounded on one side by the goat fencing, so they could fly up and perch on the wire, and then fly over to the other side.  We moved it far away from the goat fence so that they are surrounded completely by the soft chicken fencing.  The hope is that there is no firm wire to perch on, so they should not be able to fly over.  So far so good.  I really don't want to lose any more chickens to my own dog if I can help it.  I am told by farmers who have raised GP that this is a puppy phase and he will outgrow it.  I hope they are right.  The chickens seem to like their new yard and pecking at the fine fresh grass.

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