The Eggmobile

Here you see Tommy tending to the chickens and the eggmobile. The eggmobile is a portable chicken house. There is an electrified portable fence to keep out predators. The chickens graze during the day, and go into the house at night. There are nests in the eggmobile, from which we collect fresh eggs daily. The entire eggmobile and fence are moved every few days to fresh pasture. In the coldest parts of the year, the chickens are moved to a hen house that keeps them warmer than the eggmobile would be able to. During that time, the chickens lay very few eggs, due to the shorter days (we don’t supply artificial light). Many people believe strongly in the health benefits of pastured eggs. We believe that the quality of our eggs is definitely superior. Once you’ve eaten eggs that are fresh from the farm, you will never go back to store bought eggs!

Fairview—Springhill Farms

Increasing Sustainability—Updated Feb 2012

 

“Man plans and God laughs!” This old adage could perhaps sum up our new venture thus far. On the down side, we’ve had to abandon the egg mobile/electric netting set up that you see pictured. Our Rhode Island Reds suffered predation form both ground and air assaults. We had to keep the Black Australorps penned in an older out-building longer than expected as we reworked the egg mobile model. On the upside we’ve backed into a much more sustainable system than we’d planned on. Once the Australorps were 5 months old we started letting them have a daytime free range option. At dusk they come back to the old outbuilding for a little grain/water and roost for the night. This winter (2011-2012) we’ve used less feed than even in the summer months to supply the nutritional needs of the hens (as their increased foraging meets most of their needs). As an added bonus, this breed has lived up to its heritage as being a solid egg producer even in the winter time. We will most likely use an A-frame open floor portable pen as our next generation egg mobile. They will still be able to forage, but not as extensively. I’m sure the feed bill will increase, but, at least the gardens won’t be the chicken’s personal salad bar!