A Chicken Walkabout

When Farmer Jeff said to me, "Be careful of what you dream, it could come true...", I froze in my tracks. Uh oh...what do you mean, I asked.

I looked in the same direction he was looking and my heart alternately jumped and sank. The chickens were out of the pen and wandering through the yard, and luckily, the dogs were locked up in the pen. WHEW. I didn't need another dead chicken or 10. Once I realized they were safe, I was REALLY happy!

Ever since we have had the chickens, I have wished that they could freely wander where ever they wished. With the dogs, that didn't seem like it would be possible. I happen to agree with my friend that said she never had pets on the same food chain. I kinda like that. Makes sense to me!

However, I do have dogs and chickens, so I follow the other adage, "Good fences ...keep chickens alive...". Well...you get what I mean!

We have actually let the chickens out 3 times now for several hours at a time. They have helped us by both weeding and fertilizing to garden. I just have to make sure they don't make it to the tomatoes!

I had to laugh. A couple of them started following me up the path towards the house, following just like the dogs!

Tyner, the hen with the scissor beak, is out of her baby bird food. (You might recall that for the last 2 years I daily feed Tyner a mash of baby bird food.) We ran out last night and I usually buy it in the town 1/2 hour south of us. With gas prices being what they are along with close to 100 degree heat today, I wasn't about to make that drive. I drove to the closest feed store and they had just run out. I drove to the town south of us and BOTH of the pet stores there have gone out of business! Sad to see that...

Once I realized that her special food was not going to be found, my ingenuity went to work. I went out to the coop, got a scoop of the regular feed pellets that she can't pick up in her beak, and ground it up in my coffee grinder! (Note to self: REALLY clean out the grinder before grinding coffee!)

I don't think she liked it quite as much as the gourmet stuff, but she did eat and I found a way to save some money. Works for me!