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.    

In our neck of the woods, most of the trees have succumbed to fall and dropped their leaves. Each morning I wade through a deep blanket of crunchy brown leaves as I head to the chicken coop to let everyone out to start their day. Our chicken run is not covered, so leaves fill up the fenced in area. A few years ago I discovered a fun activity for the chickens once lots of leaves have fallen and dried in their run.

Of course Duchess had to get in on the fun as well :)

Wearing my boots, I just kick a big pile of leaves together (of course you could use a rake, but I'm usually too lazy to pull it out, plus this gives my legs a work out!). I fill an old plastic cup with scratch, black oil sunflower seeds, and layer crumbles then sprinkle the mixture on top of a pile of leaves. I sit back and watch while the chickens go at it!

They love to jump on top of the pile and kick through the leaves to get to the yummy treats. I usually make 3-4 piles so everyone can get in on the fun, otherwise the older girls push the young ones out of the way. They had pretty much flattened the pile by the time I got a video, but I thought this was cute and wanted to share it anyway. Isis and Jobin seem to love the spotlight!

I usually save a little of the treat mixture so I can feed the chickens out of my hand. I love how they all crowd around and gently peck for the treats.

I also learned that playing in the leaves isn't just for the chickens (and Duchess). Sylvester also likes to roll around in the leaves. Silly boy!

~Tammy

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