MJ's little flock

[BY Bob]

One little hen finishing off a big day with an apple core

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Mine are loving the apple so much I will start giving them a whole one every couple of days.

 

[BY Bob]

MJ, someone gave us duck eggs. This is the first time I have ever eaten them. Mrs BY Bob made me a duck egg ham and cheese scramble this morning. They were quite yummy.

 

[MaryJanet]

MJ, someone gave us duck eggs. This is the first time I have ever eaten them. Mrs BY Bob made me a duck egg ham and cheese scramble this morning. They were quite yummy.
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Wow! That was nice of them! And the breakfast looks wonderful. If I recall correctly from childhood, duck eggs are usually richer than chicken eggs. How was the scramble? Could you detect a difference?

We used to keep a pair of ducks called Daddles and Bruce. Daddles was an outstanding guard duck and frightened anyone who came through the front gate. Bruce was an outstanding flyer who used to land on the neighbour's rainwater tank.

 

[MaryJanet]

Mine are loving the apple so much I will start giving them a whole one every couple of days.

Apples are considered creme de la creme by the hens at my house, worthy of dashing across the yard for and squabbling over, even if your crop is already tanked up and distended.

 

[Ribh]

Apples are considered creme de la creme by the hens at my house, worthy of dashing across the yard for and squabbling over, even if your crop is already tanked up and distended.

Yep. All mine like apple too ~ even the core & pips.

 

[MaryJanet]

Yep. All mine like apple too ~ even the core & pips.

I've read they shouldn't eat the pips, what's your opinion Ribh?

I don't worry about the pips at all.

 

[Ribh]

I've read they shouldn't eat the pips, what's your opinion Ribh?

I don't worry about the pips at all.

Yes, the pips have arsenic or something in them but the girls would have to eat an entire orchard of apples to be affected, the amount is so miniscule, so I don't worry.

 

[MaryJanet]

Yes, the pips have arsenic or something in them but the girls would have to eat an entire orchard of apples to be affected, the amount is so miniscule, so I don't worry.

I've noticed the hens leave the skeleton of the core with the pips in it and it dessicates before I find it and put it in the green bin.

If a hen lived in an apple orchard would she live long enough to eat that many pips, especially when there's so much tasty apple flesh to be pecking at? Seems unlikely, unless she developed a taste for pips or was famished.

I wonder if it's one of those things where someone thought "arsenic = poison" and wrote some clickbait without giving it a moment's real thought.

 

[Ribh]

I've noticed the hens leave the skeleton of the core with the pips in it and it dessicates before I find it and put it in the green bin.

If a hen lived in an apple orchard would she live long enough to eat that many pips, especially when there's so much tasty apple flesh to be pecking at? Seems unlikely, unless she developed a taste for pips or was famished.

I wonder if it's one of those things where someone thought "arsenic = poison" and wrote some clickbait without giving it a moment's real thought.

I don't know if you've ever read the Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories but there's a fantastic one that uses arsenic & I learnt a little digested is extremely good for the hair.

 

[MaryJanet]

I don't know if you've ever read the Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories but there's a fantastic one that uses arsenic & I learnt a little digested is extremely good for the hair.

Awesome!