LAYERS.
Every three or four days we pull the posts up, drag the chicken wire fence to another spot, and set up new paddock for the chickens. Then we push the chicken coop in and the next day we let them out into a fresh space.Rotation, we learned at Bugtussle, is the best way to manage almost any animal system: lowering impact, spreading out fertility, and keeping the animals healthier.So last night, when the chickens had all put themselves to bed for the evening, Hannah and I went out and started taking down their portable fence when we noticed a little white egg on the ground, then another, and a third in the nest box itself. Pullet eggs! Our first! And since we only have a few birds who will be laying white eggs––the Leghorns––we know who won the race! We had noticed their combs becoming bright red, which Hannah read was a sign they're about to start laying, and sure enough, we're going to be eating some eggs this morning.Anyone who has ever had chickens can attest to the excitement you enjoy in harvesting your first eggs, even if they're roughly half the size of what they will be. You pamper the birds for months, checking daily to see if they've left you any sustenance, and just before you give up on them entirely you find three white eggs. But that makes complete sense, too: if there's anything we've learned in this business it's that you move a bunch of heavy stuff around and at the end of the day, somehow, as if by magic, food happens.- Jesse.