Since graduation there has been a lot happening here at Miller Farm. As the spring semester farmers moved out and the May Term/summer farmers moved in, life out here was a bit more chaotic than usual. However, over the last few days things have begun to settle down as many of our temporary guests have left and we all become accustomed to the new daily routine. The first of the summer interns move in on Monday and I believe that much more work will begin to be done as they settle in. Still, many important things have been happening. The broiler hens have been moved into the chicken tractor and are doing well. The tractor itself is holding up nicely and has proven to be relatively secure-- so far we haven't lost any of the hens (despite the best attempts of our cats). We had a small farmday this morning despite of the rain and a decent amount of weeding was done in the garden.
We continue to struggle with protecting the new generation of laying hens. At my last count we were down to just five. We are unsure of what is getting at them-- some maintenance guys said it was probably a badger. It also might be the hawk, though I haven't seen it around lately. We have worked to patch the fence of the chicken yard as best as possible but I fear there is only so much we can do. Any suggestions?
A funny thing happened last week. I was eating dinner on the porch when a car I didn't recognize drove up the driveway and a boy jumped out and ran over to the chicken coop and hunched down by the fence. When I went over to investigate I saw that he had just dropped two baby chicks inside the fence! He told me that a girl on his hall had bought the chicks at the farm store a few weeks earlier as pets and had abandoned them at the end of the semester. I was pretty mad at this. Luckily we had a pen set up in the greenhouse for the broiler hens so we were able to accommodate them, but what if that hadn't been the case? Those chicks surely would have died if he had just left them out there. This instance was frustrating on many levels but it really made me think about the different ways that students uninvolved with Miller Farm think about this space. How do we make this place a more relevant/respected/important space for a larger number of students so that they know why they can't just drop off their unwanted cats and chickens here? I think that's something to work on.
With that in mind there is a pants-off/dance-off/bake-off tonight in the kitchen. 8:00pm. BYOBaking goods.
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The maintenance man actually said it was probably a weasel and said that one of his co-workers had seen it. He also unfortunately said there was not much one can do to protect against weasels, because apparently they can get into just about anything climbing or digging. Some online websites suggest wire around that goes into the ground, (which sounds expensive) and also suggests making sure all the area around the coop is cleared (no long grass or anything) so that the predators will be less able to hide and feel safe.
Before I left, Toby pointed out a large burrow/hole underneath a board on the barn side of the coop by the brush, where all the burr bushes are. It looks pretty unused currently, but perhaps that should get blocked off some how?
I guess another option would be a live trap with some meat or something inside of it and set it out at night.
This is so confusing because its been hard to determine at exactly what time we have been loosing them, is it at dusk before we get them inside? Or during the day? With chickens going missing and then finding them again, I was always confused. Good luck you guys!
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