I think you're talking about trichinosis, and I've read that for the most part it's not a threat any more in commercial pork. I think it was more prevalent in the old days when most hogs were raised outdoors.
So no, I wasn't really worried about giving them the raw pork bone to peck on.
I tossed a meaty ham bone into the chicken run. Since 4 or 5 hens tend to dominate over treats like that, I also tossed in some apples, tomatoes and broccoli for the subordinate hens, who will probably never get a taste of ham today.
I accidently let the chickens' water bucket run dry for a while yesterday. It's a 2 gallon bucket so it needs refilled every 3 or 4 days.
Anyway, I drilled a couple holes into one of my orange Home Depot buckets, installed a pair of auto fill cups onto and set it next to the other waterer.
Now...
There was chaos in the nest box this morning. The four hens kind of fit in it but they were competing over who got to be the one on top of the eggs. Do all hens love the feeling of eggs under their breasts like mine do?
In spite of the packed nest, no eggs were broken, although one hen missed...
I finally hung a bag of 99+% elemental sulfur across the entrance/exit between the coop and the day run. Every time they pass through, they bump the bag and a tiny bit of sulfur powder dusts their back.
Sulfur is supposed to be great for preventing and controlling mites and lice on chickens...
Last winter I partially closed off some of the vent area on the chicken coop to somewhat block the icy north wind. I repositioned the exterior plywood wall sections this morning so that the coop has full ventilation.
I also removed a section of OSB that covered the hardware cloth at the back...
I didn't do much with the hens today. I collected eggs, gave them a couple each of tomatoes and apples to share, then cleaned and refilled their 2 gallon water bucket.
I locked them up for the night in the secure run about 3 hours earlier than normal, just because I was already out there and...
I picked up a box of produce at the store today, but it wasn't the best. No greens of any kind, so the chickens got some apples and tomatoes. And even an orange that I cut into quarters. Oh yeah, and a couple pounds of fresh strawberries.
They don't like the strawberries much at all, but...
Today I'll find out if my chickens will eat cauliflower. I tossed a head into the run and they started pecking on the leaves. Maybe they'll eat the rest of it.
I hate seeing bored chickens so I gave them a block of frozen scraps from some chicken thighs I boned out last week. It kept them occupied and engaged for a good half hour.
I boned out the thighs raw, and wasn't too worried about getting all the meat off the bones. Then I cooked the bones in a...
I screwed up yesterday. Put a frozen half pound of ground beef in the microwave to thaw and forgot about until I opened the 'wave today.
I cooked it up for the chickens, and man, did they go crazy for it. A couple were actually fighting to get the little pieces of ground beef when I threw it in...