“Yes.”
“Losses?”
“Yes.”
“Labor?”
Toby hesitated.
“My labor?”
“Labor is labor.”
“You want me to charge you?”
“No.”
“I want you to count hours.”
“Because free work is still work.”
Toby nodded.
Daniel handed back the notebook.
“I’ll think.”
Harland hated the idea.
Daniel mentioned it during a co-op meeting two days later.
Harland laughed then too.
Not as hard as he would in April.
He said:
“You’re short on cash, and your answer is adding livestock management?”
Daniel responded:
“My son's answer.”
“Your son is fifteen.”
“He knows.”
Harland looked at Toby.
“You know chickens don't read pest-management plans?”
“Yes.”
“They'll eat beneficials too.”
“Probably.”
“They can damage vegetation.”
“Yes.”
“They can concentrate manure.”
“Yes.”
“Predators?”
“Yes.”
“Food safety?”
Toby nodded.
“That’s why they’d be out long before harvest, and I want extension guidance before we start.”
Harland stopped.
He had expected enthusiasm.
Not conditions.
He asked:
“What exactly do you think they’re going to do?”
Toby answered:
“I don’t know.”
Harland smiled.
“Good start.”
“I know what I want to measure.”
That was different.
Daniel eventually gave permission for a limited trial.
Six acres total.
Not continuous.
Selected sub-blocks within the north orchard.
Control sections untouched by chickens.
A fixed stop date.
The birds would be removed well before fruit harvest.
No access to blocks during periods Daniel or an extension adviser considered inappropriate.
Toby had to maintain records.
If ground damage became excessive, the test ended.
If predator losses became unacceptable, it ended.
If the birds interfered with orchard work, it ended.
If Toby’s schoolwork fell, Rachel ended Toby.
That condition was not written.
It was understood.
The next problem was finding birds.
Two hundred young productive laying hens would cost more than Toby’s trial justified.
Then Rachel heard through a friend about a commercial flock being replaced.
Older hens.
Past peak laying production.
Still healthy enough but economically less valuable in a commercial system.
The operator planned to sell some cheaply to small farms.
Toby went with Daniel.
The birds were not pretty.
Feathers worn.
Combs varying.
Some heavier.
Some thin.
Most eighteen months or older.
Daniel looked at Toby.
“These are your research department?”
“They still scratch.”
“That was not my question.”
They purchased two hundred at a low price.
Not free.
Cheap enough that failure would hurt but not destroy the farm.
Before bringing them into the orchard, Daniel made Toby talk to Dr. Emily Foster, a Michigan State University extension specialist who worked with diversified farms.
Emily did not endorse the plan immediately.
She asked questions.
“When do you harvest?”
“Starts late August, mostly September and October.”
“When are birds leaving?”
“Before summer if the trial stays on schedule.”
“Good.”
“What are you targeting?”
Toby named several pest pressures he believed might be influenced at orchard-floor stages.
Emily interrupted twice.
“Do not lump them together.”
Toby stopped.
She continued.
“Some will be accessible.”
“Some won't.”
“Some years the timing will not match bird activity.”
“If you say chickens control orchard pests, that claim is too broad.”
Toby nodded.
“What should I say?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Measure.”