Hello, world...again

I'm back. New town, new year, new chickens, same Tim.

Brief farm update up until now:
I started 100 K22's again in February in Morrilton but moved them to some land I'm renting near Pinnacle Mountain west of Little Rock. It's on Barret Road between Highways 300 and 10 on the banks of the Little Maumelle River. They're ready for processing now but my plucker has a few more parts that are en route via UPS currently. I'll probably process one day next week but it could be as late as Saturday, May 3.

Major problem:
The local gnats have been wreaking havoc on my chickens for about a week now. I lost over 20 in a 3-day span starting last Sunday from stress and overheating/suffocating as they piled up on each other to try to escape the biting bugs. I'm not sure if it's survival of the fittest at work or the fruits of some of my attempts at lessening the problem, but I haven't lost any since about Thursday.

Moving forward:
Ragan is moving to Little Rock, too, and we've decided to work pretty closely together on raising and marketing this year. I think it'll be a good partnership since we'll both bring different strengths to the table, not to mention the halving of our individual work loads. The pairing has already paid off by leading to an arrangement with Scott at Boulevard Bread to supply eggs for his new restaurant opening some time at the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009 in Little Rock.