Re: Chickens

Sure wish I was allowed to have them in my yard... Dang homeowners associations! 
Cathy, west central IL, z5b
On Nov 18, 2008, at 9:32 AM, Johnson, Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/ SCOSI wrote: 


Zen chickens, that's good. We think of them like that too. Years back
when DH was in a very stressful job he'd come home, grab a lawn chair
and sit out in the back with the chickens. There's just something so
relaxing about watching them scratch around making their little clucking 
noises, taking dust baths, and having their little pecking order
squabbles.

Cyndi


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
Behalf Of Jesse Bell
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 6:42 AM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: [CHAT] 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


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