The girls started today with a lovely breakfast treat. Since our garden was so prolific this year, they have had the fortune of sampling some of the finer things we couldn't bring ourselves to finish. The last of the patty pan and flying saucer summer squash were devoured from the inside out just last week. They peck a hole in the skin and seek out the fleshy, sweet, juicy center and seeds. It's quite a project. Thinking that this talent for eating squash would translate to our overloaded supply of pumpkins, I tossed in a French Cinderella pumpkin a few days ago. They stared at it, they pecked gingerly, and then they walked away to find their bucket of feed. I watched, I waited, and today I finally went out with a sharp knife and cut the pumpkin down the center. Norma Jean was the first to see the perfect pumpkin seeds spilling out onto the hay. The rest was history.
Chickens also apparently have a "sweet beak." It's like a sweet tooth, but since hens don't have teeth... Their favorite treat by far is strawberry tops. Since the fresh berry season is over, this morning's strawberries will most likely be the last. In addition to strawberry tops and pumpkins, the girls have also recently devoured broccoli stems, beet greens, and some slightly undesirable lettuce. Outside time is now at a premium, and the girls anxiously await any chance to escape their enclosure and peck through the dirt and grass. They had just such an opportunity yesterday afternoon. I was burning lathe from the walls in the upstairs of our house (yes, burnin' down the house) in our old barbecue grill, so I could keep a watchful eye on the chickens as they made their way around the lawn. Ingrid soon found herself separated from the flock and sounded the most pathetic squawk I have ever heard. No one answered her, so it was up to me to herd her back to the coop. So much for flock loyalty, I guess.
I would let the girls run free more often if I could, and believe me, there is a lot of guilt about their confinement, but the reality of having chickens in the city boils down to the large number of alley cats in our neighborhood. My biggest fear is one of the girls getting killed by a local predator. There are times when I wish we had a rooster to keep the hens safe, but that's opening another can of worms I cannot abide.
Hi! Thanks for choosing to follow my blog! I have been checking yours out and I am soooo envious of your chicken coop. OMG it's gorgeous! It's like you had an architect build it or something. Well, maybe you did...what do I know? Your girls are spoiled rotten! I also find that the pumpkins, squash, or even melons need to be cut open for the hens to recognize that they are really edible. Silly birds. On the other hand, they eat mice whole. Go figure. Happy day!
ReplyDeleteOur chicken coop was a labor of love and recycling. Almost everything (apart from the treated posts and the metal roof) was reused, reclaimed, or recycled. It was a lot of fun to build, and I learned a lot as I put things together, but I discovered I am not much of a carpenter!! The girls don't seem to mind, though.
ReplyDeleteThe pumpkins have been hit and miss lately. I think they look very tasty, but the chickens have wrinkled their noses at them, so off to the compost bin they shall go! They clearly prefer sweet things, like apples and plums, which were devoured down to nothing the moment I turned my back.
Happy farming!