Winter is coming! And I'm trying to plan out some healthy treats and activities to keep my girls happy through the rain and cold weather. So far, I've harvested some sunflower heads and dried them for later use... to toss out in the run and give the girls some extra pecking and scratching opportunities.
I would love for you all to share any other ideas you may have, and post pictures if possible!
I have these beautiful sunflowers volunteer-growing in my yard and some are already dried.
I enjoyed watching the wild birds visiting and collecting the seeds... and some squirrels too. Then I saw how much my chickens loved going after the fallen ones on the ground, so I decided to keep them for ourselves... sorry wild animals!
I cut off the spent blooms and trimmed the back side flat to let them dry...
but then I realized that the surrounding dried sepals (looks like petals) took up too much space in my storage bin. Then all the seeds fell out when I tried to remove them. So for the next batch, I peeled them all off first, along with the disc florets (fluffy stuff over the seeds) before they were completely dry and that was much easier, although very sticky.
I would recommend wearing disposable gloves.
Then placed them on a large wire rack to dry in the sunshine. But guess what?! The chickens found that to be a delicious buffet, so now I have the sunflowers drying in the garage.
I didn't want them the eat the seeds while the summertime temperatures are still high outside, because seeds are high in fat and may overheat my birds if they eat too much. Besides, it's better to save that fuel for the cold temps.
So now I have a bunch of tasty treats that they'll have to work for this winter!
Just wondering though, how many should I give at a time? I have only 4 hens.
I know that treats shouldn't consist of more that 10% of their diet... but what does that translate to?
And thank you for any other suggestions you may have!
I would love for you all to share any other ideas you may have, and post pictures if possible!
I have these beautiful sunflowers volunteer-growing in my yard and some are already dried.
I enjoyed watching the wild birds visiting and collecting the seeds... and some squirrels too. Then I saw how much my chickens loved going after the fallen ones on the ground, so I decided to keep them for ourselves... sorry wild animals!
I cut off the spent blooms and trimmed the back side flat to let them dry...
but then I realized that the surrounding dried sepals (looks like petals) took up too much space in my storage bin. Then all the seeds fell out when I tried to remove them. So for the next batch, I peeled them all off first, along with the disc florets (fluffy stuff over the seeds) before they were completely dry and that was much easier, although very sticky.
I would recommend wearing disposable gloves.
Then placed them on a large wire rack to dry in the sunshine. But guess what?! The chickens found that to be a delicious buffet, so now I have the sunflowers drying in the garage.
I didn't want them the eat the seeds while the summertime temperatures are still high outside, because seeds are high in fat and may overheat my birds if they eat too much. Besides, it's better to save that fuel for the cold temps.
So now I have a bunch of tasty treats that they'll have to work for this winter!
Just wondering though, how many should I give at a time? I have only 4 hens.
I know that treats shouldn't consist of more that 10% of their diet... but what does that translate to?
And thank you for any other suggestions you may have!
..I put a flake of Alfalfa hay in my Run once in awhile and burry scratch grain in it for them to scratch around. I still let mine have the opportunity to free range daily even if they only come out for an hour.
