It is really hot here so this morning while it was relatively cool, it was raw sunflower seeds.
This afternoon when the heat is peaking, it will be blueberries that were frozen fresh and just thawed before feeding.
We hand-feed those as some are pretty greedy and we don't want anyone to get a brain/crop freeze.
We buy berry fruits when they are on sale and freeze them for later use.
Every so often people bring us bags of salad greens and such which they like everything else fresh, they really get after.
Overall their treats are pretty widely varied although we have so far stuck to sunflower seeds some dried fruit, fresh fruits and vegetable ansd whatever stray palo verde beetle that may happen along.
Our yard rooster, Jimmy Crackcorn, is the exception.
When the outdoor cats get their daily ration of canned food, Jimmy has to have his own or there is NO peace for the cats.
Surprisingly other than then and once in awile, he and the cats pretty much leave one another alone, rather Jimmy leaves them alone.
I do see him every so often herding them to where he wants them.
At 7 months he is quite a character.
This being our first chicken rodeo, I could be mistaken but it appears that the more fresh things we give them, the more of their regular food they eat.
What I do know for sure is that we have the makings of a really nice flock which appears to have the numbers to allow for 3-8 bird flocks of 7 ladies and 1 roo.
Jimmy, being a little older is going to get little flock of adult hens to lord over so he will not worry so much about the rest coming out to free range during the day.
Including the field next door which we are in the process of securing for daytime freeranging, we are looking at approximately 12k sq ft of roaming area.
We are hoping that it will be sufficient to allow for minimal conflict over space during free-range time with the realization that it will bear watching until everyone settles in.
A happy chicken is a healthy chicken.
