What did you do with your flock today?

[ChicksnMore]

I love it!! Look at how creepy that pumpkin looks

By the time I took it out they'd made a hole through the back and at the base of the stem too Think next year I'll give it to them just one day ahead.

 

[kurby22]

By the time I took it out they'd made a hole through the back and at the base of the stem too Think next year I'll give it to them just one day ahead.

Yeah, I figured if I gave it to them for too long that I would just have a giant hole in the center of those tiny pumpkins! Hahaha. Bigger pumpkins next year!

 

[Nomadicus]

Did you go trick or treating?

No. All of my kids are old enough for grand kids now. The 2 great grands that are near me I sure went with their parents right in their small rural town neighborhood. I hope they send pictures. Granddaughter is an accomplished seamstress.

 

[Nomadicus]

I intend to grow a small patch of pumpkins with chicken feed in mind. I can start giving them to practice on early. I'm willing to bet my sharp beaked Dark Cornish girls and do a number on a large pumpkin.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I intend to grow a small patch of pumpkins with chicken feed in mind. I can start giving them to practice on early. I'm willing to bet my sharp beaked Dark Cornish girls and do a number on a large pumpkin.

I saved the seeds from our pie pumpkins this year. Squash need crazy amounts of water here but hoping the little pumpkins will be easier. Not so good for chicken carving but still good treats.

 

[Nomadicus]

I saved the seeds from our pie pumpkins this year. Squash need crazy amounts of water here but hoping the little pumpkins will be easier. Not so good for chicken carving but still good treats.

Less water required if you have a way to mulch them heavily so the only water needed is for the pumpkin and not the sun and/or weeds. I'm saving paper feed sacks to mulch with. I also have well water that doesn't cost near as much as county water.

 

[Nomadicus]

Way back in the 70's I would buy 150 bales of wheat straw to mulch the following years garden with. I picked it up in the field myself. Wire tie heavy bales. 50¢ a bale. Now it's over $5 a bale for light weight string tied bales. There is another option and that is a porous type of black plastic that is bio degradable. One kind is made form corn starch. I've got some of that to try next year. I am looking for ideas on other things I can grow for the chickens and maybe some of it for us at the same time. They get the ugly protein added buggy stuff. At this point I really don't know what they can safely eat out of a garden.

 

[Nomadicus]

Everybody got plenty of scratch grains late this afternoon to keep them warm tonight. They will wake up to 27% game bird starter grower and oyster shell on the side. I started out for the last rounds of going through the coops and my little Honey girl was waiting on me and from the look in her eye she didn't want to take no or wait til I got back for an answer. She makes my day. Her near constant companion, Legs, was with her by the time I got out with a treat for them. I'm going to have to get Honey a lighter weight boy friend and some more Dark Cornish pullets so Legs can have a harem. I moved several hundred lbs of feed this afternoon before the really frigid weather moves in tonight.

 

[TropicalBabies]

I let the girls and boy out to freerange at around 3:00. Kind of warm today but with a nice breeze. Visually the chooks were fine, so I stayed busy with my deferred housework. Family is coming for DH's bday on Friday

Finished my day with a long overdue truck wash. My "truck gecko" came out for a drink but quickly disappeared back into the engine compartment when finished. Obviously, I must have a lot of bugs around my truck cuz someone has gotten pretty phat.

Thought I'd share a photo of him and a Picasso selfie of me for fun,

Very sure my chooks are thrilled to be home. Wish they would start laying eggs though. Jellybeans may have just started her molt deep sigh. She lost a beakful of feathers rather easily from Beetle.

Looking forward to plugging away at more housework tomorrow. Love a clean and semi organized home.

Spider's ferals hanging with Beetle's flock Maybe they will give me some eggs... soon.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Way back in the 70's I would buy 150 bales of wheat straw to mulch the following years garden with. I picked it up in the field myself. Wire tie heavy bales. 50¢ a bale. Now it's over $5 a bale for light weight string tied bales. There is another option and that is a porous type of black plastic that is bio degradable. One kind is made form corn starch. I've got some of that to try next year. I am looking for ideas on other things I can grow for the chickens and maybe some of it for us at the same time. They get the ugly protein added buggy stuff. At this point I really don't know what they can safely eat out of a garden.

My chickens love their garden scraps. Great low maintenance ones here are sweet potato, grape vines (my grapes are a native species and grows fast all summer), minari (think this is also called Chinese celery...water plant though), water cress, oregano, basil and perilla. The minari and watercress I grow in bucket ponds. The sweet potato, grapes, oregano and perilla come back on their own so no need to plant them annually. Just water and harvest. All of those grow more then we can eat and I trim them back a little at a time as bird treats.

I also grow pickerel weed, pennywort and duck weed just for them. Those three grow like crazy even in bucketponds and all my animals enjoy snacking on them. Best part is the only maintenance is pulling some out as treats and refilling the water. All 3 are people edible too but not my taste.

And of course any veggies. I go around my garden and pluck any yellow leaves, buggy leaves etc as I head towards the coops. Here it's usually spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, radish, turnips, collards etc. Any veggies we can eat, they can too I believe.

And if you like collards, you'd probably enjoy tree collards. They'll grow year round here and can get huge. Very prolific plants and the best part is they grow from cuttings so you just pot some fresh cuttings in the fall to plant out in the spring for best growth.

Mine also love rose flowers. If your someone that likes to deadhead your roses, chrysanthemums, nasturtiums or other edible flowers...then you can toss them to your birds instead of compost.

I think just about anything you can grow for your own eating is good for them except alliums...onions etc. There's also a lot of pond plants that are good eating for birds and easy care.