I haven't done very well keeping up with anything over the summer. August 12 I fell (feeding the chickens) and broke my elbow. My local hospital would not do the needed surgery and I had to cross the mountain to UVA hospital. Then I tested positive for covid before they could do the surgery. I was sick for so long that I didn't get my surgery until October 26 and by then I needed an elbow replacement. So other than leaves and straw nothing much has been added to the run. I've decided since we have very few food scraps (hubby has hogs right now) that I may just keep adding the straw and leaves with occasional scraps. Do you all think that will work and keep the chickens happy?
Also, I lost my big Polish rooster this morning. A hawk got him, but my hubby got the hawk.
Yeah, sorry to hear about your health problems. I know a lot of elective surgeries have been put on hold because our hospital is dealing with so many cases of COVID patients. I was telling my anti-vax relative that over 95% of our current COVID cases in the hospital are with unvaccinated patients. They are gumming up the system. Unfortunately, he remains unconvinced and says that is all fake news. He gets his "news" from Facebook and believes that is real news.
Dear Wife works at an assembly plant and they are currently experiencing a rash of COVID cases. Lots of people out on a 10 day unpaid vacation. But, so far, the people with vaccinations are staying out of the hospital and not experiencing the severe symptoms. We are both vaccinated and will get the booster when it is available to us. I encourage people to get vaccinated, not only for their health, but the heatlh of everyone else in their circle. I am a (semi-retired) RN, and I am not concerned about the political arguments over the vaccinations, I am only concerned about the public health aspect of the vaccinations and how they are indeed keeping people from developing the most severe symptoms and keeping them out of the hospital.
But, we have seen some personal health issues not addressed until too late due to the COVID situation in our hospital. Don't know if that was your situation, but that is what is going on here.
The straw and leaves with occasional scraps will most probably keep the chickens happy. I usually throw my scraps and chicken scratch right on top of my chicken run compost litter. My chickens love to scratch and peck through the compost, not only for the scraps and chicken scratch I feed them, but also they dig down looking for bugs and worms to eat.
Sorry about your rooster. I don't let my chickens free range. They live their life in the coop and in a bird netting covered chicken run. I live on a lake, and we always have hawks and bald eagles overhead. Free (meal) range chickens would not last long in my yard. I don't blame a hawk or eagle for trying to grab a chicken dinner. I just spend about $7 for bird netting that covers 13X13 feet of my run. This year I expanded my run to 3 sections, so the birds had lots of room to move around. When I mow the lawn, I gather the clippings in the bags and dump them in the chicken run. So, I bring the free range to my chickens.
Somehow, after reading your recent posts, I think you might be the one with old french fries in the car in case of emergency. I'd suggest throwing some granola bars in the the glove box, but make sure they are in a rodent proof container. I had some candy in the car and when I wanted to have a bite or two, all I found was a mess of shredded paper and plastic along with mouse poop! That duck chow might be really good for attracting small visitors. Hope you clean it out.
I don't know what to say. At least you should be able to eat the glob of granola bars. I just bought a container of tootsie rolls to leave out in the car. It will be a long time before I worry about them melting. More like I'll have to put a tootsie roll in my mouth and suck on it like hard candy for about 10 minutes before I can chew it.
