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Home of Michael Perry – Author, Humorist, Singer/Songwriter, Amateur Pig Farmer

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Posts Tagged ‘dumb farmer’

Eggs-plosion

Been having a whole lot of trouble on the egg-laying front this winter. Production dropped off to nearly nothing (there’s always a taper, but this year was especially steep), then when they started laying again, they were devouring all the eggs.

Last week we instituted a program of increased oyster shell, three-a-day collections, and daily re-strawing of the laying boxes. We also added a golf ball to the plastic decoy eggs (supposedly they try to eat the plastic egg or golf ball and get discouraged).

Sixty-some chickens, and yesterday we got 43 eggs.

Including a couple blue ones.

Bounty!

Did Not Fly the Coop

The wind is still freight-training, so I’m not sayin’ we’re in the clear, but I did wake up three times last night to peer out of the window to see if the chicken coop (which is mounted on the running gear from an old haywagon) was still upright, and it was, and is now in the daylight.  I was worried, because when I was in there at dusk, she was just a-rockin’.  It was parked broadside to the wind and the rain had left the ground too soupy to move it.  So, as the blurry rain-whipped cellphone photo below demonstrates, I took measures…

That’s a ground anchor, a boomer, and the chain from my deer-skinner.

Chicken on Wheels

Once upon a time I wrote a book about (among other things) building a chicken coop:

Now we have a new project in the works…

Chickens (and…?) on the Radio

When producer Todd Witter came up and spent a morning with me and our chickens, I had no idea what he’d do with the sound…he didn’t really interview me so much as let me ramble.  When the following piece aired on Morning Edition as a “Wisconsin Life” essay, it was fun to re-imagine the morning (it was muddy and soggy as I recall).  But my favorite part of the audio requires a closer listen, and is never explained: All this talk of chickens, and yet…you can hear interlopers…

Mike Feeds Chickens

COOP on the Radio

Weekdays at 12:30 p.m. CST from now until February 12, Jim Fleming will be reading Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Chapter A Day.”  Jim has a wonderful reading voice (I have learned he is a favorite of rural mail carriers) and you can listen to a live stream of the reading right here.

Missed a segment?  The five most recent chapters are available here: http://wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=cad&repeats=no

Mike on TV

Footage of my morning TV interview at KATU in Portland, Oregon can now be viewed here.  Farmer friends, please note I keep trying to wedge in the fact that I am not a real farmer.  Added bonus: Enjoy watching the author scramble for ways to explain that he was bitten on the butt by a coonhound in terms that won’t get him hustled out the back door.

Mister Sleepy
Mister Sleepy

Did this on four hours sleep, nearly curled up on the overstuffed chair for a nap.  Been on the road 13 of the last 14 days, I note I am getting to where I need a haircut.  Will need to locate the proper high-tone salon.

They ran some clips while I was talking.  The complete chicken coop video is here, and the complete dryer episode is here.