Polyphase Farm- The Farm of Many Phases

Without missing a beat, we have moved on to phase two of our adventure. Our next objective is to build the mobile pasture shelters that will house our chickens out in the field. This phase is a bit more of a race because we need to have them done by the time these chicks are large enough to leave the brooder. This means that we have anywhere from 2-3 weeks, and as you may have gathered from the previous post, even a couple hours can make all the difference!

We have budgeted a bit of time for recreation, though. Yesterday Shae Lynn, my father, and I went out to a remote part of the ranch to test and fine tune the aim on one of the farm’s rifles. With only a tin can as a target it was hard to get a feel for how the rifle shot because my dad and I kept missing it completely…that is until Shae Lynn, or should I say Ms.Bullseye stepped up. Without missing a tick, Shae put hole after hole in that can and all with a sly smile and lady-like modesty that came with the cool remark, “Oh, this is nice, it isn’t one of those guns that hurts you when it jumps.”

We have also had a time to get some projects done at night now that we don’t have to monitor the temperature in the brooder every hour. Last night I got to finish up some prototype nipple waterers for the brooders. The $2 bucket waterers we’ve been using have been fairly successful at getting water to the chicks, but they are a bear to change and keep clean and get all of the bedding around them wet. The nipple waterers will let us change the water outside of the brooders (which are only about 4’ 8” tall) and will stay nice and clean for the birds. They are definitely worth the extra money.

Last, I want to give my sincerest of apologies to you all. It has come to my attention that my last blog post completely neglected to make any sort of joke about the farm’s name and the unexpected arrival on Tuesday (instead of Thursday) of our 400 chicks. Although, I wrote the post in near total exhaustion, there is no excuse for missing that opportunity. While we are recovering well from the surprise, a ranch by any other name, though, might have been nice.