Turner_Family_Flock
Chirping
- May 16, 2020
- 39
- 89
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Our sweet birds are now at about the seven week mark!
We've moved them out into the coop, and they've been living outside for about a week.
They've got food, water, grit, and a dust bath that they smartly dug out themselves from a dusty patch that was in the coop.
Like chickens do, they've picked out every single little bit of grass and foliage from the bottom of their coop. Whatever wasn't eaten has dried up and died.
Because of this, we normally let them outside to graze in the grass. It's a little bit of a struggle, because we found that our chicks are still small enough to slip out under the fence. We don't want this to happen, so normally what we do is herd them with out arms outstretched so that they have the middle of the yard and the side of the house to graze by. This is also where we have the best grass, so it works for everyone.
But it's spring in Oregon. As I'm writing this, it's raining. Our girls are in the coop complaining that they cant go run around in the yard and peck at the grass.
This morning, I slipped on a muddy patch of grass and uprooted a clump of weeds.
So I tossed the chickens the pulled up clump to see what they would do.
They went CRAZY
Tearing it apart, pecking it to bits, and munching on whatever was left.
I know they werent starving, they were literally eating their feed a minute beforehand, so I chalked it up to them wanting to have some greens.
So here's my question: On rainy days that I can't let our chickens graze because of the rain, should I make up a bowl of greens for their coop?
We've moved them out into the coop, and they've been living outside for about a week.
They've got food, water, grit, and a dust bath that they smartly dug out themselves from a dusty patch that was in the coop.
Like chickens do, they've picked out every single little bit of grass and foliage from the bottom of their coop. Whatever wasn't eaten has dried up and died.
Because of this, we normally let them outside to graze in the grass. It's a little bit of a struggle, because we found that our chicks are still small enough to slip out under the fence. We don't want this to happen, so normally what we do is herd them with out arms outstretched so that they have the middle of the yard and the side of the house to graze by. This is also where we have the best grass, so it works for everyone.
But it's spring in Oregon. As I'm writing this, it's raining. Our girls are in the coop complaining that they cant go run around in the yard and peck at the grass.
This morning, I slipped on a muddy patch of grass and uprooted a clump of weeds.
So I tossed the chickens the pulled up clump to see what they would do.
They went CRAZY
Tearing it apart, pecking it to bits, and munching on whatever was left.
I know they werent starving, they were literally eating their feed a minute beforehand, so I chalked it up to them wanting to have some greens.
So here's my question: On rainy days that I can't let our chickens graze because of the rain, should I make up a bowl of greens for their coop?
