what kind of chickens?

[applestar]

I love it.

I was reminded of reading how you can increase the nutrient value of the compostable greens like that.

Greens --> directly to compost pile
Vs.
Greens --> "livestock" (chickens in this case) --> "output" goes to compost pile

Yay!

[rainbowgardener]

And what I have read is that the greens are very important in getting very rich nutritious deep colored eggs.



farm fresh vs store bought eggs. We have seen this because we used to have an egg lady we bought from.



Also I was just reading that as the weather gets hotter, they should be getting less scratch grains (chicken feed) and more fruits, veggies, and greens.

[digitS']

Chicken-keeping, it's fun and can be economical and add to a better diet.

Chickens seem to know the value of grit to help them digest their food. They must crave calcium as egg production commences and those eggshells are required. Modern breeds are egg-laying champions! A 300/year egg producing hen didn't happen until about 100 years ago. Wild chickens in South and Southeast Asia produce nowhere close to that number of eggs annually - maybe, 10% of that.

Those eggs are mostly protein, beyond the ever necessary water and inside that calcium shell. The hen is no "machine." She requires a healthy diet, herself.

We recently were talking about people who don't eat vegetables, or eat very few of them. A hen can have a vegetarian diet but a good deal of attention should be given to protein because, she needs it.

One idea behind satisfying hunger with meat and not vegetables is that things like lettuce have so few calories. If a hen is no machine, she also isn't a ruminant. She has nowhere near the digestive capacity of a cow. She will like lettuce but, just like us, she would starve on a 100% lettuce diet. Some veggies are high in calories. Cooking them would make them more digestible. We might still fall short on what our super egg-producer needs in the way of protein.

I think that a hen requires just about the same diet as a human. I'm sure that it's not quite correct but, at least, she isn't a carnivore and have the requirements of a cat, for example. She will still, happily, catch all sorts of bugs, worms, frogs, lizards, etc. etc! I fed "meat builder" feed to my backyard hens. Then, they had all the green food they wanted. Table scraps were welcome in the coop but I had to be careful not to load them up on things like potatoes and pasta. Eggs! I wanted eggs! Not unproductive, fat hens ...

Steve

[applestar]

Didn't somebody mention letting the chickens pick through the compost pile before? Bugs! Hakuna Matata!

[imafan26]

Grubs are good for chickens. They like worms too. Chickens are one of the few things I know of that eat slugs and snails.
I know the white part of the egg and the yellow part changes color as the egg ages. The membrane separates from the shell and the air pocket grows as the water in the egg evaporates. That is why it is easier to peel a boiled egg when it is older.

The albumin in the egg whites changes in desity too. I forget which way it goes. I think it goes from runny to more viscous and cloudier as it ages. The egg whites are almost all protein and account for about 17 calories of the whole egg.

The yellow part of the egg does vary with chicken breeds. The Rhode Island Red hens have more orange egg yolks and a speck on the yolk that the white leghorns do not. The yolk contains the bulk of the calories since it has most of the fat and cholesterol.

Egg Whites
Egg whites are a low-calorie, fat-free food. They contain the bulk of the egg’s protein. The egg white contains about 4 grams of protein, 55 mg of sodium and only 17 calories. A single egg white also offers 1.3 micrograms of folate, 6.6 mcg of selenium, 2.3 mg of calcium, 3.6 mg of magnesium, and 4.9 mg of phosphorus and 53.8 mg of potassium.
Egg Yolks
It is true, egg yolks carry the cholesterol, the fat and saturated fat of the egg. However, what is often overlooked are the many nutrients that come with that, such as the fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids and other nutrients. One egg yolk has around 55 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat and 1.6 grams of saturated fat, 210 mg of cholesterol, 8 mg of sodium, and 2.7 grams of protein.
https://www.ahealthiermichigan.org/2011 ... o-you-use/

I knew eggs were a complete food, but did not realize how many vitamins they contained.

I know that laying hens are fed calcium to help make their shells stronger. It is also why chicken manure is alkaline.

[Allyn]

The 'extras' should comprise no more than 10 percent of thier daily diet or they won't be eating enough of the balanced chick feed and won't get enough nutrition. That 10% doesn't include greens like lettuce or cabbage. Greens are mostly water and have very little in the way of calories and so they can have as much greens as they'll eat.

Oyster shell shouldn't be given until they're laying age. The extra calcium is hard on their kidneys when their bodies aren't making egg shells to dispose of it. A good commercial chicken feed has enough calcium for non-laying birds -- usually less than 2% -- so they don't need more until they start laying. And once they start laying, you don't have to switch to 'layer feed' which usually has less protein in it -- usually only 15% or 16%. The higher protein in the chick feed is good for them through adulthood, and if you supplement them with oyster shell, they'll be happier.

Hard boiled eggs are a wonderful treat for chickens. Hard boil the eggs, peel them and then chunk them up into little bits and feed them to the chickens. They'll go nuts for it.

..Also I was just reading that as the weather gets hotter, they should be getting less scratch grains (chicken feed) and more fruits, veggies, and greens.

Scratch is different than chicken feed. Don't confuse the two, because scratch is not a nutritionally balanced feed; it's just a treat. Scratch is basically junk food and should be part of the "less than 10% of extras" that they are allowed to have. It is usually made up of a lot of corn that they don't need (nor do you want them to have) in hot months. They should have a good quaility chicken feed available free-choice all the time, but if you're feeding them scratch (which isn't necessary, but the chickens like it) in addition to their feed, reduce or eliminate the scratch in the hot part of the year. Replacing scratch with other treats -- like fruits and vegetables -- saves them from following you around waiting for you to give them 'the good stuff'. On a hot day, they'll love a slice of chilled watermelon, for example.

[rainbowgardener]

Thanks for clarification. I just didn't know the terminology of chicken feed and scratch. What we have been feeding them is a balanced chicken feed that is designed for their age group.

Yes, I have been reading about heat stress in chickens (since we are having some days in the 90's already!). Their whole area is under tree canopy and shady except early morning, so they should be pretty OK. But we were at the grocery today and I bought some watermelon for them (neither of us is particularly fond of it, so this is just watermelon for the chickens).

Maybe I need to think more about protein. I have given them the occasional earthworm I bump into, which they love! Otherwise the only protein is what is in the chicken feed. Maybe I should supplement with some mealworms?

[Allyn]

Lots of folks really like giving them mealworms. I don't. I'm not opposed to it, it's just that we have so many eggs, it's easy for me to hard boil a flat of eggs each week for them as an occasional treat.

Don't get too wrapped up in what seems like a rigid feeding regime. According to the feed schedules, the chickens should get chick starter from hatch to 8 weeks, then a grower feed from 8 weeks to 12 weeks unless you feed a combined chick starter/grower then you can feed them that from hatch to 12 weeks. Then from 12 weeks to point of lay (usually about 24 weeks), feed them blahblahblahblah.....

It all seems so complicated, but it's not really that difficult. Find a good quality feed that is at least 20 percent protein and feed them that (along with free choice oyster shell when they get close to laying). It's pretty easy to find 20+ percent feed: meatbird feeds, chick starter feeds, and gamebird feeds all have higher protein.

Quoted from the Heritage chicken feed guidelines published by the Livestock Conservancy, "Heritage breeds of chicken (especially heavy or dual purpose breeds) require a more nutritionally complete feed ration than their commercial counterparts, in order to fully achieve their potential size and productivity. Many of the common rations found in feed stores are formulated for commercial hybrid birds which are selected to grow well with less protein in their diets. Often producers can find appropriate levels of protein for Heritage chicks in game bird or turkey starter and grower diets."

So don't be afraid to look at gamebird or showbird feeds for the extra protein. Not only will the birds be healthier for it, but you can avoid behavior problems such as feather eating and egg eating, which can be a symptom of not enough protein in the diet. It's better to find a higher-protein feed and save the mealworms for an occasional treat than to feed a deficient feed and try to bolster it with extras.

[rainbowgardener]

Thanks for all the help, Allyn. I will definitely pay more attention to the protein content of our chicken feed.

Feeding eggs to your chickens seems so cannibalistic. Everyone keeps telling me don't give them eggshells for their calcium, it will train them to eat eggs....

[applestar]

So that's why you peel them first, I suppose -- seems like a lot of work to me but hey LOL -- I was pondering about that exact idea -- cannibalistic... but the egg is only one half of a potential chicken and unfertilized no chance of being a living organism at all ...I wonder if the ovum even passes a DNA test? The rest is basically waste product so kind of like eating snot or biting nails, though THAT would actually pass the DNA match.

...recycling human waste is EXACTLY what they say will be needed when we go out into space...

[Allyn]

Thanks for all the help, Allyn. I will definitely pay more attention to the protein content of our chicken feed.

Feeding eggs to your chickens seems so cannibalistic. Everyone keeps telling me don't give them eggshells for their calcium, it will train them to eat eggs....

One fact people want to ignore is that chickens are cannibalistic. They will eat their own kind as an opportunistic source of meat and protein, which is why it's so important to separate an injured bird from the rest of the flock. Knowing that a chicken will consume meat from another chicken (and that other chicken doesn't have to be dead yet), all of a sudden eating eggs doesn't seem so bad. Eggs are a very nutritional treat for them. I know of folks that take hardboiled eggs, shell and all, and whopper-chopper them up in the food processor to feed the chickens. As long as the bits of shell are small enough, they've lost the appearance of being an 'egg' so no association is made between the eggs in the nest and the bits of shell in the 'treat.' However, the eggshells don't have enough calcium in them to replenish the calcium the chicken needs to make more eggshells, so you can feed them eggshells, but you still have to provide supplemental oyster shell.

Chickens will eat eggs if one breaks in the nest -- usually by being stepped on -- so the question might arise as to whether the chicken is an actual egg-eater or if she was simply cleaning up the nest after an accidental breakage. It's been my experience that egg-eating is usually caused by a diet lacking sufficient protein and for me, it's been more of a problem in larger flocks where dominant hens run hens off the feeders that are lower in the pecking order. Without intervention and corrective action, those hens lower in the hierarchy don't get enough to eat and can start eating eggs as a way to address their nutritional deficiencies. You have a small flock and you're attentive so you'll notice if a hen isn't being allowed to eat. Go ahead and feed them shells if you want, just crunch them up into bits first.

[digitS']

It seems an odd turn.

Keep egg-layers for fresh eggs.

Feed eggs to layers to supplement diet.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

I thought so too. I guess the eggs you feed them as just a little piece of their diet, would hopefully be a lot less than the eggs they produce.

[Allyn]

It seems an odd turn.

Keep egg-layers for fresh eggs.

Feed eggs to layers to supplement diet.

Steve

It's not odd at all. I get a minimum of 3 flats of eggs a week. (1 flat = 2.5 dozen eggs) I boil a flat of eggs each week for the chickens. That leaves me at least two flats of eggs (5 dozen) each week. We can eat only so many eggs, so giving some to the chickens doesn't deplete our supply.

Just to clarify, I don't keep egg layers for fresh eggs. I raise and breed heritage dual-purpose chickens for fresh eggs and meat.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm vegetarian. My chickens will be for eggs only. When they get too old to keep laying eggs, then we will be running a retirement home for old lady hens....

[applestar]

I get a minimum of 3 flats of eggs a week. (1 flat = 2.5 dozen eggs) I boil a flat of eggs each week for the chickens. That leaves me at least two flats of eggs (5 dozen) each week.
[...]

Just to clarify, I don't keep egg layers for fresh eggs. I raise and breed heritage dual-purpose chickens for fresh eggs and meat.

WOW so are you saying they tend not to lay as many eggs as the egg layers? I'm supposing they might be BIG chickens -- are their eggs bigger? How many chickens do you have?

When you are breeding them, do you sell the fertilized eggs, chicks, or older chickens? How do you know which eggs to keep for raising?

[Allyn]

I'm vegetarian. My chickens will be for eggs only. When they get too old to keep laying eggs, then we will be running a retirement home for old lady hens....

I know you are a vegetarian. I'm not and I raise chickens for meat as well as eggs, so we have a lot of eggs because we have a lot of chickens. I was just responding to the notion that keeping chickens for eggs and then feeding eggs to the chickens seems odd. It isn't, and even with just a few chickens, you'll find times where you have more eggs than you want to eat, so giving them to the chickens is a perfectly good use for the extra eggs.

On a completely different note, have you considered growing forage grasses for the chickens? I don't have a prefered seed blend, but there are plenty out there if you Google "forage seed for chickens" or similar keywords. Take wheat grass flats and grow forage grasses. The chickens really like them.

[Allyn]

WOW so are you saying they tend not to lay as many eggs as the egg layers? I'm supposing they might be BIG chickens -- are their eggs bigger? How many chickens do you have? When you are breeding them, do you sell the fertilized eggs, chicks, or older chickens? How do you know which eggs to keep for raising?

At present, I have 21 hens laying. Dual purpose chickens bred to be dual purpose chickens (not just layers) don't lay as prolifically as chickens bred to be layers. All hens will, over the course of their lives, lay about the same number of eggs. If a breeder skews the breeding program towards layers, those hens will lay more eggs per week, for example, than a chicken that has been bred for meat, but she'll shoot her load faster, perhaps laying only for two or three years; whereas a bird bred for meat lays less frequently, but will lay longer, maybe for five or six years. Meat birds are bigger; they have a bigger frame to carry more meat. That's part of the breeding process, to put chickens in the breeding pool that have big frames. Layers are smaller; they're more petite and instead of putting energy into making meat, they put their energy into producing eggs. The size of the bird is not an indicator of the size of the egg. Most people want layers for their backyard flocks, so the breeders of most of what were dual-purpose chickens now produce chickens that lay like layers, having bred the size out of the strain.

There is a book published by the American Poultry Association, The Standard of Perfection, that describes in minute detail every characteristic a chicken of the particular breed should have: eye color, the shape and color of the comb, weight, feather color and color pattern on each part of the body, leg color, stance, temperament, body shape, and more. It's the chicken breeder's bible. This is very over-simplified, but in a nutshell, you take your hens that are the closest to 'the Standard' and put them with the rooster that is closest to 'the Standard'. You collect the resulting eggs and hatch them, then see what you've got. Genetic winners go into the breeding circle; duds and extra cockerels get eaten. Hens that are no longer productive are eaten. I don't sell fertilized eggs or chicks yet because I am still developing my breeding strain. I have a breeding flock of Delaware chickens. It is a Heritage breed that was almost extinct a few years ago.

[rainbowgardener]

"have you considered growing forage grasses for the chickens?" No, that idea had never occurred to me! My chickens aren't free range, but taking your suggestion, I did find this:

SOWING IN FLATS: For chickens that stay in runs, plant some Forage Blend in a 17" square flat. Add soil, sow thickly, follow the growing instructions above, then place the flat in the chicken run and let them eat it all up.
https://www.groworganic.com/omega-3-chi ... gated.html

That seems worth trying!

We are all still on a learning curve, the people, the dogs and the chickens. I've never been around chickens before. We have only recently begun trusting the chickens to walk around the 150 sq ft enclosure inside the picket fence, when the dogs are in the house. I had no idea what would happen when we first let them out-- would all our chickens just fly away? would we ever be able to get them back IN their house? But that was all fine, they don't fly very much and they are happy to go home after awhile.

We've been gradually trying them on more and more foods. They pretty much eat anything we give them that they can manage (not too big and tough), but they definitely like some things more and will chase each other for them. Potato peels and watermelon are in that category. And they are eating lots of greens these days. Eventually my lawn may be all weeded, because I walk around a couple times a day, pulling wild violets and plantain and clover and chickweed for them. What a nice win-win, weed my lawn and feed my chickens all at once.

I think they may be getting teenage hormones! * We had never seen any of the "pecking order" behaviors before. They all just co-existed peacefully and were frequently all cuddled up together or all gathered together eating out of the same dish. Just lately and especially when they are out in the bigger area, they are starting to do little play fights. Each incident only lasts a few seconds and they don't do each other any harm, but it seems like the beginning of all that dominance stuff.

*They were 3 and 4 weeks old when we got them (two different kinds), meaning that now they are right about 14 and 15 weeks old.

[Allyn]

In general, Orpingtons can easily be bullied by other breeds, so just watch and make sure your Orpingtons are getting a chance to eat now that the pecking order challenges have begun. Hen squabbles usually aren't nearly as aggressive or potentially bloody as rooster squabbles, but if things get heated, being able to break line of sight helps so putting an additional feeder in a spot that is not directly in line of sight from other feeders (and the same for waterers) lets those lower on the pecking order a chance to eat and drink. Once the pecking order is established, as long as the dominant hen isn't a bully, everyone will know their place and should be respectful enough to wait their turn at the feeders.

You being a gardener, I thought you might be interested in the forage grasses. Mine lovelovelove clover. I had big patches of white clover in the yard and had wanted to seed the entire yard with it, but they decimated the patches in short order. I have to section off areas with garden fencing to plant it and once it is established, I take down the fence and they have at it until it is pretty much bare. I'm thinking about permanently sectioning off an area for the clover because I don't have nearly as many bees this year and I think that is largely because there isn't hardly any clover anymore.

[rainbowgardener]

Well the Orpingtons are one week older than the Americaunas and noticeably bigger. So far they don't seem to have any trouble holding their own. The most aggressive bird is one of the Americaunas, but she seems to mostly pick on the other birds her size, I.e. the other Americaunas. So far the behaviors are pretty minimal, but we are keeping an eye out.

I think the Orpingtons are closing in on egg laying time: their faces are getting redder and they are just starting to get some wattles.

We have tons of clover. Since so far anyway the chickens are staying in their picket fenced paddock, I just pick clover and other lawn weeds and bring it to them, along with carrot tops and parsley.

[applestar]

oooh not wishing pests on you, but you probably could do the same and won't have to kill any pest bugs any more -- just carry a deep container -- coffee can, sand bucket with you and put them in as you pick them off your plants ...cutworms, hornworms, slugs, those shiny green June beetles you posted about last year....

...or would you feel bad about that? It seems like natural order to me, though.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, took me awhile to think about that, but it is a good idea and I'm sure the chickens will love it!

[rainbowgardener]

Wow! I did find another couple grubs today and dropped them into the chicken cage. Big hit!! The lucky bird snatched one up and then had trouble being able to eat it because she was being chased all around by all the others, until she finally got it swallowed.


On a different topic, we have started letting the chickens out into the area inside the picket and wire fence (but outside their coop/run) when the dogs are outside. So far that has gone well and the dogs have been very well behaved, not barking at them or anything. So progress is being made! That means our six chicken ladies can have the run of 150 sq feet a lot of the time. Still not exactly free range, but three times the space they had until we started letting them out into it.

[rainbowgardener]

Did I say that they have names now? The americaunas have distinctive markings and are Robin (because she has some rusty red markings like a robin), Quail (for a quail-ish stripey look to her feathers) and Hawk (for a kind of fierce face). The buffs are hard to tell apart so we were just calling them the Golden Girls. Now we have leg bands for them and they are Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose. !! We can do that because we don't intend to eat them!

They are hard to get pictures of, in a shady area and behind fences. This is a picture I found on line of a Buff Orpington at about the same stage as ours, with just a little bit of comb.

[applestar]

LOLOLOL !! Did you name the Golden Girls randomly or according to their personalities?

[rainbowgardener]

Blanche is the most adventurous one. When we were trying to get bands on them, we kept catching her over and over, because she was least afraid. The other two Golden Girls are a bit random.

[rainbowgardener]

my friends keep sending me fun chicken stuff...



and this one from America's Got Talent:



(the chicken made it through to the next round! )

Here's the longer version from AGT, but the above video, if you look closely shows you how it's done!




I'm clearly not giving my chickens enough educational opportunities!

[rainbowgardener]

https://www.facebook.com/ChickSwing/vid ... 143838937/

[rainbowgardener]

New observation. The back fence at the back of the chicken "paddock" (the larger area outside the coop/run, that we let them out in to) was over grown with virginia creeper. Apparently the chickens like those leaves, because now it is defoliated up as high as they can reach. Also the shed whose south wall is one boundary of the paddock had some of the creeper growing up it, attached with suckers like it does. They managed to pull the whole long stem (which had reached the top of the wall) down so they could eat the leaves.

[rainbowgardener]

It occurred to me, now that we are letting the chickens out into larger area and they have access to more different plants, that I should look up plants that could be toxic to them. Turns out there's quite a list. Many of them are not things that our chickens would ever have access to and some of them are obvious like poison hemlock and jimson weed. But still it made me think.

Things growing in our yard that are likely toxic to the chickens if they get to them: azalea, pokeberry, milkweed, rhubarb leaves, cardinal flower, daffodil, tulip, nicotiana (ornamental tobacco), raw beans, oak leaves and acorns (our yard is FULL of acorns and baby oak seedlings!) If they got into the compost pile, avocado skins and coffee grounds are toxic.

Wow! It makes me glad we have been keeping them relatively confined!

[applestar]

Wow does that mean they would eat poison ivy, too?

[Allyn]

It's good to be aware, but don't get too alarmed. In a lot of the "don't feed" list, there are caveats. For example, some lists will say don't feed them potatoes. Potatoes are fine, but they shouldn't have potatoes that are green. Something in a green areas of the skin doesn't sit well with them. Rather than launch into a whole explanation for each item, the list just says don't feed potatoes. Avocados do contain a toxic fatty acid derivative known as persin. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual (google it and save the link), levels of toxicity vary between the two types of avocados (Mexican and Guatemalan) that grow in California and toxicity also tends to vary depending upon the time of year, so they recommend not giving avocados to animals. I think most of the persin is in the pit and skin. That doesn't mean the chicken will drop dead if she eats a bit of avocado -- some folks do include avocado bits in with kitchen scraps they feed to their chickens -- but more than an occasional bit isn't good for them. A lot of those warnings are like the warnings not to feed chocolate to dogs. Yes, if you regularly feed your dog chocolate, it might affect their eyesight; but an occasional lick of chocolate as a special treat isn't going to make him drop dead.

I let my chickens free-range over an acre of property and even in my garden. I haven't lost one yet to toxicity. That doesn't mean I never will, but the chickens seem to have a certain predilection for things that won't make them sick.....at least they do after trying it the first time.

[rainbowgardener]

RE: " coffee can, sand bucket with you and put them in as you pick them off your plants ...cutworms, hornworms, slugs, those shiny green June beetles you posted about last year.."

Found a baby hornworm on a tomato plant and carried it over to the chicken cage. It was snatched up almost before it hit the ground! I need to check carefully--if there was one, there are likely more.

It is very cool having the grubs and hornworms and stuff transformed from pests to valuable protein for my chickens! I feel so perma-culturey !

PS. I have some wonderful cherry tomatoes ripe now. I will have to look up what variety they are--they ripen to orange. They are very sweet and very tomatoey. I gave the chickens the cut off tops and they loved them.

[rainbowgardener]

This was a picture I posted May 26

They are hard to get pictures of, in a shady area and behind fences. This is a picture I found on line of a Buff Orpington at about the same stage as ours, with just a little bit of comb.

Dorothy (of the Golden Girls) seems to be a little bit ahead of the other two in maturity. So one month later and she is now looking exactly like how they say they will look when they are ready to start laying:


So we put a couple golf balls in each nest box in lieu of practice eggs and are starting to watch for eggs!

The Americaunas are one week younger and are showing very little comb development. But apparently this variety doesn't necessarily ever have a lot of comb/wattles. I need to get pictures of them. They are beautiful and each one different.

[rainbowgardener]

So I finally took some pictures of my actual chickens:

"Robin"

"Quail"

"Hawk"

Most of them together

That's the space between the shed and their coop and run. Their walking around area wraps all the way around the coop/run and is definitely wider on the other side.... If you click to enlarge this picture, you can see "Dorothy" in the front with the most fully developed comb and wattle.

[rainbowgardener]

Just a fun little observation:

Earlier in the season, my chickens had been enjoying lettuce from my garden. They do like their greens! I've given them lots of different things: parsley, carrot tops, wild violets and plantain, etc. But the lettuce is long since bolted and gone to seed. I kept some of it around to re-seed itself and now was pulling it. So I pulled some of the remaining leaves off the lettuce stalk and gave them to the chickens. They took a couple tentative pecks and walked away. Very clearly telling me that lettuce was no good any more!

So they do have something in lieu of taste buds that tells them what is good to eat and what isn't and they won't just eat anything. Nice to know.

[applestar]

[digitS']

....that tells them what is good to eat and what isn't and they won't just eat anything. Nice to know.

Don't put too much faith in their little, bird brains:

"Jim Micinilio, DVM, ... X-ray reveals a large quantity of metallic objects impacted in a pet chicken’s gizzard.

“[The chicken] recovered uneventfully and within a week, was back to following the owner around the yard.

"One hundred and fifteen objects including several screws, nails, wire, pieces of glass, linoleum and a bullet were found in that little chicken … " (link)

I had a chicken die the afternoon my backyard flock discovered and sampled the rhubarb plants.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Thanks for the warning.

I just thought it was interesting that they could tell the difference between young lettuce and bolted lettuce and clearly did not like the latter.

But for the time being at least, they are still staying in their 150 sq ft enclosure (and at night in their 50 sq ft coop). If they did get out, our rhubarb is fenced in.

But yes, some people have told us we can trust the chickens not to eat stuff that is harmful to them. I'm not ready to do that...