Spring chicken management

March has come in like a lion, and our chickens are wet and muddy.  I've been wanting to focus on making our cochin go broody and set on some chicks, but she's had a low-level case of diarrhea that she can't seem to shake.  I've dosed her with yogurt, garlic, and earthworms, all to no avail.  I know that deep bedding is supposed to be healthy for chickens, but I also know that it takes several months for the good bacteria to colonize bedding, so it's possible that my experimental bedding is responsible for her ill health.  Just as likely, though, is the current forest pasture's position in the shadiest spot in the yard.

Meanwhile, Mark has been hard at work putting together a used pallet chicken coop in the sunniest area so that we can move our flock there soon.  Green grass is pushing up through last year's dead foliage in the new pasture area, and I suspect that fresh greenery will be the health cure our cochin has been looking for.  I'm chomping at the bit to get our flock moved into the sun and our cochin sitting on some eggs, but I have to remind myself that the farm has its own timeline.  Maybe by the end of the week....