There comes a time when chickens are no longer productive as egg producers. This happens at about 2 1/2 years old at Eatwell Farm. Each flock, we have five, are identified by a spiral colored band around one of their legs. We have four colors and one flock with no band. Last night we went to collect the no band chickens from their house and put them into the transport crates for their last journey. We had never had to seperate flocks before and this proved much more difficult than we imagined. The flocks had co-mingled more than we thought. We will need a better plan before we do this again for the next batch.
We did not 'harvest' as many chickens as we had hoped so if you are going to the market this Saturday in San Francisco expecting to 'load up' please just take what you need now and we will have another batch in three weeks.
You can buy the chickens from Dave Evans at Marin Sun Farms stand at the market. It's not Dave's fault that he does not have enough chickens so please be gentle with him.
There is a great deal to learn and much detail to get right as a chicken farmer. This on top of all the other crops we grow here at Eatwell Farm. It is a wonderful diverse farm and sometimes a little frustrating when we do not have all our ducks in a row for everything we do.
Nigel.