Good news is "afoot"

I am happy to say my big black chicken "Ka-roo" is looking much better after a foot scare.  I am not sure what she did to it (no signs of trauma), but she has been hobbling around the yard for the past couple of days. She is a really lucky chicken because in the process of catching her to examine the foot, we cracked the egg that she was carrying.  I know this because  when I went to retrieve the eggs, one has obviously been damaged during its formation.  This of course sent me in a tail spin.  Thank goodness all is well and we learned a lesson.  whew.

Happy Friday!

[caption id="attachment_1072" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="awesome ceramics by Priscilla Ramos"][/caption]

Priscilla Ramos is a artist-sculptor-potter from Brazil.

What should I feed my chickens?

UPDATED INFO:

For NEW articles about chicken feed, check out Happy DIY Home. They just posted an up-to-date article with lots of great information. It has all the Pro’s and Con’s of different chicky feed.

Chicks If you're starting out with baby chicks, you'll need to get a chick starter feed.  There are both organic and non-organic, medicated and not.  That is totally up to you.  I used non medicated and they were fine.  Chick starter contains the nutrients and high protein that quickly growing chicks need. Kick start your BOK BOK's

Pullets After about 12 weeks, your chicks are now  pullets.  They're not babies anymore (sigh) and they're not laying any eggs, so they are teenagers!  At this time (approximately 10 to 18 weeks of age) begin feeding your chickens a grower feed.  I fed mine the crumbles Vs. pellets.  The Grower Feed has less protein than the chick starter, and less calcium than the layer feed.

Layers:

When a hen gets 5-6 months of age, she's ready to start laying eggs. It's time to start feeding chickens layer feed at this time. It has more calcium, to help them lay strong shelled eggs and to give them the added nutrients they need to lay several eggs a week (it's hard work!)

In addition to feeding chickens some form of feed, it's also important to give them additional 

calcium (such as oyster shell or baked and crushed egg shells)

 and grit. The calcium, again, helps with egg production while the grit acts as 'teeth' inside their stomachs, helping to grind up all the food they've eaten.

Treats:

There are all sorts of treats you can feed chickens!  

Scratch

is a great treat for them and encourages healthy scratching behavior.  It is also good to give it to them before a cold night, as it raises their body temps.  reversely do not give them scratch when it is hot.  Cool treats only!  Mine also  love fruit.  

Watermelon and bananas

specifically.  I recently gave them some yogurt for their tummy troubles, and they loved that too!  They also love crickets and meal worms.  There's a wide variety of 'extras' you can feed your flock, just go easy on it.  Too many treats for chickens and they could get sick.

Foraging

We free range our chickens all day while we are at work.  This is great because they love to forage in a free range environment, chickens will also feed themselves.  They love bugs, worms, slugs, weeds, and even snakes...so gross!  The only problem is when your gone, you never know what else they might be getting into.  Mine hop the fence and cruise the neighborhood.  So you never know what they might get into.

For more articles about chicken feed, check out Happy DIY Home. They just posted an up to date article with lots of great information.

Trending: Natural Easter Egg Dyeing

In case you didn't know, Natural Easter egg dyeing is the only way to go this season.  Don't be caught dead with a packet of PAAS in your kitchen!

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egg-dying

Natural Easter Egg Dyeing Class – Sunday, April 1st

If you don't think you can manage on your own, head over to Urban Acres on Sunday, April 1st at 3pm to learn how to dye Easter eggs naturally!  They will have Chef Nicole Van Camp  teaching participants how to use vegetables and spices to color Easter eggs without using food coloring or other chemicals. Cost is $5 per adult participant, and you can bring one child free with each adult who registers.  Please email liz@urbanacresmarket.com to reserve your spot by March 28th.

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[caption id="attachment_839" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="I am not giving up the "glitter boys" though, the world's oldest gay egg chorus"][/caption]