Of the three pumpkins we carved, only one was suitable for chicken consumption. One was painted (my youngest insisted) and the other had some rot starting inside. The chickens were leery of the good pumpkin, not, I think, because of the carved skull, but because it weighed over 8 pounds! They have a similar fear of feed bags and buckets.
I had to remove the lid for the hens to realize the object was edible. Then they decided to resculpt the pumpkin from a skull into Micky Mouse. Huh.
I have a steady variety of greens going out to my hens. I sprout alfalfa and mung beans in a counter-top seed sprouter and take out the wee seedlings when they are ready (I know it is time for the bean sprouts to go out when they lift the lid and make a bid for freedom). The wheat grass salad bars in the runs have been thriving with occasional reseeding. I discovered I can wedge several stalks of basil in the hole in the chicken swing (the basil stalks are quite sturdy and this secures the stems so the chickens can pluck off bits of leaf). And I still do hang the occasional cabbage or pumpkin for consumption. (I bought the cabbage intending to make sauerkraut, but jars are ridiculously expensive right now, so I’ll try another time!)
Winter showed his face here and the temperature plummeted. Instead of sleek feathered bodies, my chickens are balls of fluff to keep warm. They enjoy the cold more than the heat, though, so maybe as the molt finishes (they are starting to look less moth-eaten), and the temperatures are nice (for me that means highs in the 60s, maybe 70s), they might consider laying eggs again. Maybe. On the plus side, balls of fluffy hen are adorable.
I love this gadget! It peels, slices, and cores apples with the turn of a handle. I don’t use it often, but I really admire its efficiency when I do need to prep apples for pie. I wash the apples, run them through the apple peeler, then slice the spiral sliced apple once lengthwise to get lovely pieces for the pie. When I’m done, I chop the apple peels to feed to the chickens (I worry about long strands getting tangled in their crop, so I chop).
Either the old leopard frog found his way back in, or a new leopard frog found the watering hole. Either way, I’m not relocating this one. The chickens leave it alone and he seems to be quite happy living under the foot bath. I just need to be careful when I clean out the water so I don’t squish him. He didn’t really have a choice on costumes either. You can’t be moist and do a runner through the coop right now without picking up a few feathers from the massive drifts across the runs.
Critters and Craft 