What we have here is a failure to communicate!

Now Hiring:  Pied Piper for chickens.
Must be able to hypnotize and herd poultry with magic flute.

Any takers?

Well, I guess another solution is in order then.  Tonite was supposed to be the night I moved the chickens from their comfortable shed, out into the wild free range pasture I had prepared for them.  I completed a reasonable and portable shelter, moved the food and water, surrounded a large area with electronet, and opened the shed door.  Result?  At this second, every chicken is still inside the shed, and it's closed away.  It turns out, you can't just move their food and water, and expect them to find it and move in.  They kind of liked where they were living, and aren't quite ready to leave!

I suspect the solution to this is quite simple:  Build a tunnel between the shed, and the new home, and allow them to range between the two.  I might be able to get them all out of the shed, then quickly close up the opening, and kind of shuffle them into the ranging area.  I will do that at the crack of dawn tommorow.  I'll let you know how that works out...

GARDEN

Well, my garden is terribly neglected, yet is still doing decently well in some areas, not so well in others.  The whole plan to seed alfalfa, quinoa, amaranth, and clover failed to take root.  Literally.  None of the seeds survived, probably pecked away by birds or something else.  As usual, I'm pretty sure I know what I can do to fix that.  Seedballs!  Throw equal parts compost, and dry powdered clay into a mixer, in this case, my cement mixer, put my seed mix in there, and add water.  The mixture will form small clumps, the size of which will vary by how much clay vs water there is, how long it turns etc.  These seedballs can be tossed on the ground, and birds are much less likely to eat them, and they are much more like to to form a viable seedling!  Some people like to form these by hand, but I have a cement mixer and 160 acres, so "by hand" isn't gonna happen!