Homemade cold weather scratch to save money!

[saysfaa]

I honestly don't see a need for any of this....

Me either.

But I do a lot of things for the chickens that are not needed. Sometimes I find a better way to do some aspect of chicken keeping, sometimes I learn why something is not a good idea, sometimes I learn something unexpected that may not even be related to chickens, and sometimes I just spend some down time doing something more interesting than watching tv or playing solitaire or whatever. I don't mind helping others do the same.

 

[K0k0shka]

Me either.

But I do a lot of things for the chickens that are not needed. Sometimes I find a better way to do some aspect of chicken keeping, sometimes I learn why something is not a good idea, sometimes I learn something unexpected that may not even be related to chickens, and sometimes I just spend some down time doing something more interesting than watching tv or playing solitaire or whatever. I don't mind helping others do the same.

My chicken coop has curtains and framed pictures on the walls, so I totally understand doing things that are not needed, just for the fun of it But there are a lot of chicken owners, especially less experienced new folks, who actually think they need to do a whole lot of practically unnecessary things, or else they feel guilt that they aren't doing enough, or aren't doing the right things, etc. So they get trapped in a cycle of additional care that's weighing down on their busy lives, they feel overwhelmed, and when they hit their breaking point, they want to give up altogether. This just came up on my local facebook group actually - a woman so overwhelmed that she decided to give her chickens away and quit, when a lot of the workload was unnecessary and avoidable. Not to say that this is the case in this particular situation - I'm just using it as a jumping off point, to point out that this is all extra, so people reading this don't feel discouraged that they aren't doing enough for their chickens.

 

[RandomDucks]

That's an excellent point!

Edited to add: One of the reasons I tend to do sprouts in the winter is because they are relatively low-effort and I love having the extra greens in the house!