Feathered Friend Friday

Welcome to our series "Feathered Friend Friday." Every Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.     

When the weather turns cold, I like to treat my chickens to some warm oatmeal. They go crazy over it! Sometimes I just give them plain oatmeal; other times I add in whatever I have on hand to increase the nutritional value. This time it was oatmeal with leftover crumbled falafel, pepitas, and chia seeds.

I mostly wanted Jobin to get some extra protein for her feather production, so I made sure she got a good helping. And I was hoping the oatmeal would warm her up a bit since she's pretty bare at the moment.

I gave Jobin a little bit in a bowl to herself, then put several more bowls out where the other chickens were. But I couldn't fend off the others for long after they finished their share.

I swear that Sylvester thinks he is a chicken! He tried to sneak a bite, but the chickens wouldn't allow that. 

So he was fine with just hanging out while they ate.

When I take a treat out to the chickens, I've learned that I had better bring something along for Duchess too or she will push the chickens out of the way and steal their treat. I've never seen her turn down any food (she eats weeds and leaves for crying out loud), so I figured I'd just make an extra big batch of the oatmeal treat to share some with her as well.

I love giving my animals treats, but I try hard not to overdo it. I usually just bring a special treat like this once a week, if that. It is important that chickens get plenty of their feed so they are getting adequate protein, calcium, and other important nutrients, so I don't fill them up on other stuff.

Do your chickens like oatmeal? What is a special winter treat that you give to your flock?

~Tammy

Shared with Backyard Farming Connection Hop