Chickens

Yeh...my husband says they suffer from short term memory loss...can't
remember if they scratched there five seconds ago or not, but they'll do it
again just to make sure.  And you're right...they cluck and make all kinds
of noise, and if one finds a "goody" it makes a really loud noise and runs
off, then they all run after her trying to get the goody.  One day they were
fighting over a dead mouse...gross.  I could have done without that
one....ick.  And they make a distinct sound when the hawk is bothering them
and I have to go out there and shoo the hawk away.  I don't think Mr. Hawk
is after them (he's too small really) but I think he is after all the small
birds that hang out over there because of the chicken scratch on the
ground.  Talk about a bird sanctuary...I have it.  There is always bird food
and clean water, four or five big trees, and some privets that Pam sent me
as small starts about 5 years ago that are now HUGE, so the birds
always have some kind of cover.  The chickens hide under them and the small
birds sit inside so Mr. Hawk can't find them...but he got brave enough to
hop inside the privets one day to get 'em a bird and there were the two
roosters....not a good idea.  They went after him.  He lost a tail feather.
Chickens are very, VERY entertaining to watch.  But they are also very
soothing to me.  I call them my "zen chickens" cause I can go out there and
just watch them cluck around. They eat out of my hands.  Sometimes they'll
hop up on the big rock I'm sitting on and just "sit" with me.  They'll look
up at me like, "Hey...this is cool" and just sit there as long as I sit
there.  I love them.


On 11/17/08, james singer <islandjim1@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Now that's funny! I can see it--that's just how they act. And they're such
> busy bodies while they're doing it, fussing and clucking like it's a church
> social.
>
> On Nov 17, 2008, at 3:05 PM, Jesse Bell wrote:
>
> My chickens get scratch and some cracked corn and seeds, and they free
>> range.  They have the BEST eggs...and I have no compost pile anymore
>> because
>> they FOUND it and have scratched it all out looking for bugs.  I rake it
>> back up, they scratch it back out.  It's a game we have going on.  It's
>> really funny to watch them.  I raked up a bunch of fall leaves...they ran
>> over there making all kinds of noise and scratching them out in a big
>> pile...then, they turn around and go "HEY...LEAVES!  and scratch them
>> right
>> back where I had them, then turn around and go "HEY...LEAVES!!"  It's the
>> funniest thing I've ever seen.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 11/17/08, james singer <islandjim1@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Last time I had chickens I fed them nothing but scratch and oyster
>>> shell--and I let them out every now and then to eat grass, bugs, and
>>> anything else that struck their fancy. They produced great eggs. We
>>> always
>>> fed turkeys that same diet, and they [Beltsville whites] developed just
>>> as
>>> fast and finished just as well as the ones fed all that mysterious
>>> high-priced stuff.
>>>
>>> On Nov 17, 2008, at 2:33 PM, Johnson, Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> You can't eat anything anymore without worrying about it I guess. We eat
>>>
>>>> lots of our own home-grown lamb. And you think, well that ought to be
>>>> okay, we know what they eat - straight alfalfa grown locally - so (aside
>>>> from the whole red meat thing) it's healthy. But wait! What's in the
>>>> water they use for the alfalfa farms? Some of them are using biosolids
>>>> from the sewage plants for fertilizer, and partially treated water ditto
>>>> to water it...so now we have to find out where the hay comes from. Our
>>>> chickens eat basically "chicken chow" and what's in that, no one knows,
>>>> now we should figure out new food sources for them too? I grow my
>>>> vegetables in soil enriched with large quantities of manure from both
>>>> those sheep and the chickens. Makes my head hurt.
>>>>
>>>> Cyndi

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index