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Friday, March 11, 2011

Feeding Time At The Zoo

I've started giving the chickens soup for lunch, which basically means any kind of grain I can find, some alfalfa pellets and some kitchen scraps all thrown into a pot and covered with boiling water. Yesterday, they had a warm broth of alfalfa, oats, barley, brown rice, lentils, linseed, and powdered milk.

And they loved it!



Normally, feeding time erupts into a mad, scrambling, squawking mess as the hens all fight for the food, but with the soup, it's calmed into a quiet, peaceful chore. 


For their breakfast this morning, I gave them some alfalfa mash. To make it, I just soaked some alfalfa pellets in water over night and voila! Instant breakfast! The pellets swell to roughly three times their original size, which means that it doesn't take much. I tried soaking 5 cups of pellets, and ended up with 16-17 cups of mash the next morning; way too much!! From now on, I will only soak 2-3 cups per day. 


The hens all seem really content on their new diet, and I am happy to have them off of the commercial chicken  feed, which is expensive and causes health problems.


Why not try giving your chickens some soup today?

5 comments:

Astro said...

Bravo! So glad to see this, those chickens do look kinda calm.

You will notice that they seem a little more alert, eating this way.

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful birds! What are they? Hee, hee! That's what our chickens eat a lot. ;)

Goat Song said...

Hey there Krista! They are all Delawares. This was our first year to try the breed out, and so far I am really pleased with them!

Josh V. said...

Beautiful birds. I want those in the future. Do you find they lay well?

Goat Song said...

Ours aren't laying yet; they should start in a couple weeks though... I've heard that they are pretty good layers, but I guess we'll find out!