Living with four rescue chooks has had some comedy moments, my four fowl have taken over my life, but in a good way. They rush up excitedly to greet you, sadly it's not affection, they are just in it for the snacks.
During their previous life, as intensively farmed birds they would have had constant access to layers mash which is dried powdered feed.
So what are the chooks favourite foods now?
Since coming to Gardeners cottage the variety in their diet has increased and they are thriving. They still have their familiar layers mash but also a pellet version, which so the poultry-keeping theory goes, it involves slightly less mess. They also scoff oatmeal, that porridge oats to you and me and they enjoy a bit of mixed corn.
It turns out that mealworms and sunflower seeds hearts are the crack cocaine of the chickens' world. I even grew some sunflowers in the garden so they could feed on the seeds. However, the ungrateful wretches are too stupid to work out how to peck the husks to get into the heart. I have to individually break them open and offer them up in my hand. They kind of look quizzically at me as if to say I much prefer the ready peeled ones.
They are also massive soft fruit fans, they will do anything for a solitary blueberry or a grape. Whilst there exploits of jumping vertically up to reach a ripe raspberry provides additional comedic value. While bananas chopped up are a bit too sticky so they wipe their beaks on the ground.
They are also partial to a spot of jam, mixed in with the bog-standard food and probiotic yoghurt sprinkled on top to keep their guts in good order.
However, they do lack some instinctive hen knowledge. Instagram, facebook and twitter are all full of like-minded crazy chicken lovers, who are just like me boring there friends and family with photographs of the chooks. I've seen countless posts images and videos of their birds enjoying a seasonal treat of pumpkins at Halloween. So I thought that I'd be doing our feather friends a good turn by providing them with this tasty snack. However, our lot will not be tempted. They steadfastly avoided the gourd, no matter how it is served up, raw, cooked chopped or even the just the seeds.
Living dangerously with hens?
A couple of incidents spring to mind...like the time I went out to feed them some cooked spaghetti forgetting my laces were untied!
The chickens have access to clean water via drinkers at both ends of the garden, and when the temperature drops, it is a struggle to keep them from icing over. For some reason, they love to peck at the thin ice from the drinkers. During the summer, I spotted a shard of glass on the ground, which I had to actively wrestle out of the beak of Betty.
They also have learned to feast, on garden worms and bugs as they free-range around our garden. I'm hoping at some point, to be able to capture on video the comedy cartoon-like gait of the chooks attempting to catch a fly on the wing. They have a single-minded way of chasing them which is quite a sight to behold.
All the hens worship the garden fork, all it takes is one glimpse of it being carried from the shed, it really is enough to send them into a frenzy. They are smart enough to know, it can provide them with tasty worms. However, their spatial awareness is off as they haven't worked out how close they come to being skewered. One day Gladys was almost buried alive by a large clod of earth, which came hurtling her way. Our Gladys has discovered persistence is often rewarded as she has perfected the art of well timed visit to the back door. A wee peck on the door and well timed hen singing can mean second breakfast.
Something fishy?
Hens are not vegetarians. So I'm quite convinced if I took unwell and fell over in the back garden they would soon feast on my carcass like vultures. They are in fact omnivores so in addition to the grains and fruit and vegetables they love, bugs grubs and slugs make up an important part of their diet. There are times when a little protein pick me up of dried cat food soaked into a mess, is required. However, the best treat of all..... is a tin of sardines in oil. Believe it or not feathers are almost entirely made out of protein so when they are moulting this extra rush of good meaty grub helps restore them to their good looking poultry best.
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