Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Growing greens

I have been working on providing the greens for my chickens so that to they stay healthy through our grey winter days.   I have sprouted oats and they didn't want the greens; they wanted carrots. They do like Brussels sprout greens so i'm going to try to mix the oat greens with the Brussels sprout greens.
They are growing. At the end of the month I will have a rooster to roast and two to sell. The smaller two will make better yard roosters, I think.
They still love the alfalfa and the worms so I at least have good protein besides their food to give them.
I used to play my videos for them, and I think they miss that, so I'm going to take music out to them. They sure are curious when the Coast Guard helicopters go over us. We are in the flight pattern.
I still laugh at how my mother-in-law's dog won't go out to go poetry in the yard when the roosters are crowing. Comical.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Nesting boxes

My dad made these beautiful nesting boxes for the hens. During our storm, we hung them in the pen. The chickens treated them the same as the perches. I had to take them up to the boxes. Now they seem quite comfortable with them. Someone is nesting in them; although, I find my roosters tend to do more of that than the hens. What a funny group they are.
I put way too much hay in the pen so they are having a blast scratching through it. I'm not sure what they are searching for. I feed them, but they are hard at work. 
Is there a chicken whisperer who can help me understand my crazy birds?

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Sprouting oats

I cleaned the pen today since the power was out and it was raining.  When I opened the bag of oats the chickens started singing. It was the funniest thing.
I started the oats soaking so we'll see how that goes.
I also found out that grated carrots worked wonderfully to keep the chickens in the pen while I cleaned it. This is very good to know because they think there's food out there and I don't want them to get hurt.
Giving them oats is a pain in the neck. Well using the same whole oats anyway. I read that you can't, or shouldn't, give them the shells. So without anything but a rolling pen to crush them so it took me an hour. Or two. I lost track of time.
But they loved them so it was worth it.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Chicken nutrition

Because I live in rain country and have ridden and helped take care of horses, I have been looking for ways to give my chicken vitamins and minerals.
I read that they will eat anything so you have to be careful what you give them. My growing room for vegetables is limited so I will have get creative, but it was recommended to give them greens for nutrition because it is less harmful to them.
It was also recommended to sprout oats. Since I have never done this it will be interesting.  The Grange only had a 50 lbs bag so I have lots of room to make mistakes.
I  did learn that my chickens love ground up carrots.