The red apples are a bright contrast to the dormant grass, dirt, twigs and withered sunflower heads in the chicken yard.
A while back, a friend commented that she had so many "seconds" from her apple tree and was wondering aloud what to do with them.
"My chickens would love them," I said. "The horses too."
I was delighted when she gave me a box of wormy apples. The chickens, more so.
The unusually dry fall meant the vegetation dried up months ago. The young birds, confined to the chicken yard, must rely on humans for the occasional vegetable and fruit scraps for variety in their diet.
I counted out twenty apples -- enough for each bird, plus an extra, and tossed them into the yard.
Those beaks punctured the apple peel in no time, and I stood and watched and delighted in the pluck, pluck, pluck, and chicken purrs coming from the chicken yard.
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Glad the chickens liked the apples, but I'm sorry to say that they are -not- wormy. They have problems--they hit the ground before we could pick them, or they just grew funny, but they're not wormy. That harmless oil spray that you put on apple trees in March pretty well solves the worm problems. It's other things that caused them to land in the second box. If I find worms, I'll send them your way. (What else will chickens eat? I've got "stuff"?)
ReplyDeleteAh, chickens eat almost any type of produce. They love fruit, squash, potatoes, tomatoes. They aren't a fan of peppers and onions, though. And, while they like bugs... we don't need any more of those.
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