Chicken house #4 was barely off the production line here at Eatwell Farm when our friend John Hemphill towed in #5. We have the next batch of chicks arriving on June 10th. I could have waited a month longer but we need these chicks to start laying eggs in October when the other flocks start to decline for the winter. It is quite a balancing act making sure we have enough eggs all the time. We are running close to the mark now as production has slowed due to the hot dry windy weather we have been having. We have house # 4 slatted to start producing in July, not a moment to soon.
House #5 has a modification which I wish I had done many house ago, concrete panel floors. The chicken shit is quite caustic in the house. We have painted the plywood floors on all sides but I suspect we will have to replace the sooner that we would like. It turns out that 'hardiebacker' concrete panels work out at the same cost as plywood.
We were able to get going on the new house as it was so windy work on the farm crops was too difficult. The wind has died down now so we will plant the sweet potato crop on Saturday and move the chickens onto fresh pasture. No peace for the wicked.