Chicken Herder

Farmer’s log: earth date – 6/23/2010

This is what you call a narrow escape…or God taking pity on a slow learner.  I woke at 5 am, before the rain began.  It was still a little dark, and the meatbirds don’t like to be moved before the sun has been up for a bit, so back to bed.  By 6 am, when I woke again, the rain was coming down hard.  Lightning was dancing all around and I thought it was a bit foolish to go walking out in the wet field, so I drove my 4×4 out to them.  There was no water pooling within a hundred feet of them, so I went back in the house to do some of my online work for TEDS. 

Within a half hour, Celeste called to me from one of the rooms facing the field, “Hey, you ought to take a picture of this for a post and call it, ‘a near miss.’ “  This disturbed me, since I had just been outside and there had been nothing close about the miss.  When I got to the window, I saw that they were actually standing in water.  I rushed out and found them in water about 3 inches deep…deep enough that they didn’t want to move with the pen.  You’ll notice the trail of chickens in the second picture above…they just sat there and let the chicken tractor go over them.  In the end, I got them moved to higher ground, and I believe they’re safe for the night…though we have another flood advisory on.  I’ve gotta dig a pond….