I supplement their feed in summer with the extra from the garden (and the harvest of the Japanese Beetle traps), but I'd like to get more into it this year. Harvey Ussery's talk at Common Ground last year definitely got me thinking. If we end up buying this house, I'll definitely be tilling up a big chunk of the meadow for field peas and other winter fodder crops.
Yesterday, I failed HARD at culling the two deformed chicks from my last hatch. (one badly twisted beak, one deformed eyelids that wouldn't ever close completely, both deformities that would eventually be "incompatible with life" or at least incompatible with a decent quality of life). My husband had to do it when he came home from work, but I was able to watch with the second one so hopefully I will eventually desensitize to a point where I can do it myself. The older birds, I'm OK with - we eat the meat and bones, use the feathers, and feed the offal to the dogs, so it seems less of a waste, and they've generally had a really good run at life - good food, lots of love, free ranging outside on organically managed land, etc. The little ones who've never been outside at all...it's a LOT harder. But that doesn't mean it's any less necessary, just more difficult for me. Sigh.
And it never gets easier.
