What special care do you give your flock?

[rosemarythyme]

What is BOSS?

Black oil sunflower seed.

Would any carrots work?

Pretty sure those are just carrots sold for luring deer for hunters. And yes chickens can pick at carrots, I toss the tops with a bit of carrot and they like both parts.

 

[CabritaChicks]

Pretty sure those are just carrots sold for luring deer for hunters. And yes chickens can pick at carrots, I toss the tops with a bit of carrot and they like both parts.

I eat sashimi pretty often, and they always come with those super fine spiraled carrots (great vitamin A source). I like to microwave them (so they are just slightly softened- about a minute) and serve them as little carrot noodles—with a bit of residual fish oil, so they even get a touch of omegas.

It’s a perfect snack, and honestly kind of hilarious—they’ll run around with a carrot noodle hanging from their beaks, chasing each other like it’s the most exciting thing ever. Of course they leave most of them thrown around- but I am definitely a 'kitchen scrap' feeder type of person as whatever the parrots or hubby douesnt eat either gets the compost or the 'cluck it all' treatment.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

Black oil sunflower seed.

Pretty sure those are just carrots sold for luring deer for hunters. And yes chickens can pick at carrots, I toss the tops with a bit of carrot and they like both parts.

Thank you!!

 

[ShellyinFTC]

I make sprouted alfalfa seeds and sprouted lentils for my girls and handfeed them to my girls daily. I put apple cider vinegar in their water. I read 1 ml daily per bird helps repel parasites and helps with their immune system. I feed my girls fermented feed twice daily and have dry crumbles available to make sure they get their fill. I also give them mealworms and Cluck & Co. Organic Scratch occasionally, supplementing oyster shells and grit free choice. They get to roam the garden in the fall, winter, spring hunting for roots, seeds, and worms or other bugs, and they free range in the yard in the summer a little while each day. We got our chicks May, 2024, so they aren't even one year old yet. So far they are such happy and healthy girls! We do spoil them!

 

[Smokerbill]

I buy layer pellets for mine, nothing else. They get kitchen scraps rarely, and lots of weeds with green leaves, like dandelions. They love weeds with juicy leaves, and the weeds they don't like to eat decompose into fertilizer.

 

[Appalachickens]

I play music for them and....cough give them lessons in chemistry/nuclear science. I also show birds through 4h so those in particular get special treatment. Otherwise I just spend a lot of time with the others and let them outside the fence a lot

When a chick in our first batch was dying, I caught my husband playing guitar and singing to her.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I eat sashimi pretty often, and they always come with those super fine spiraled carrots (great vitamin A source). I like to microwave them (so they are just slightly softened- about a minute) and serve them as little carrot noodles—with a bit of residual fish oil, so they even get a touch of omegas.

It’s a perfect snack, and honestly kind of hilarious—they’ll run around with a carrot noodle hanging from their beaks, chasing each other like it’s the most exciting thing ever. Of course they leave most of them thrown around- but I am definitely a 'kitchen scrap' feeder type of person as whatever the parrots or hubby douesnt eat either gets the compost or the 'cluck it all' treatment.
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Very cute! As I grow carrots I just toss the ones that are too imperfect or the tops (with a bit of carrot attached) into the run, and they disappear. One time I threw in the top of a massive carrot, one the size of my forearm which was the equivalent of maybe a dozen carrots... took 2-3 days but they ate their way through the entire top without a problem.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

When a chick in our first batch was dying, I caught my husband playing guitar and singing to her.

Oh my goodness that is so sweet!! I'm so sorry you lost her...

 

[Black horse farm]

Apart from the feed and water, I feel like a lot of us each have our own special thing we do to take extra care of our flocks on a regular basis.
I thought it might be fun for us all to share.

For example, we give our girls a couple drops of organic oregano oil in their water.

What's the little extra tlc you give your flocks?

We took in a handicap and a friend of hers (hens) now the handicap we call Thelma and her friend is Louise. Louise has already acclimated with our flock however Thelma the handicap has not. They will let her in the coop at night but during the day they don’t want her around. We’re picking up some younger hens today I was wondering if putting the younger ones in a different coop with Thelma would be a good idea. They are younger pullets were picking up and I don’t think they would try to boss her around as much but I’m not sure would that affect the new pullets ability to become part of the flock or would the two coops form one flock from free ranging all day together? If I should post this elsewhere please let me know. Pictures of Thelma attached. She was stepped on as a chick before we received her. she walks poorly and has bad balance but she’s nice and once she molts she’ll be beautiful again I just want a nice life for her unstressed so whatever I can do for her I’d like to do.

 

[ManOverBoard]

We took in a handicap and a friend of hers (hens) now the handicap we call Thelma and her friend is Louise. Louise has already acclimated with our flock however Thelma the handicap has not. They will let her in the coop at night but during the day they don’t want her around. We’re picking up some younger hens today I was wondering if putting the younger ones in a different coop with Thelma would be a good idea. They are younger pullets were picking up and I don’t think they would try to boss her around as much but I’m not sure would that affect the new pullets ability to become part of the flock or would the two coops form one flock from free ranging all day together? If I should post this elsewhere please let me know. Pictures of Thelma attached. She was stepped on as a chick before we received her. she walks poorly and has bad balance but she’s nice and once she molts she’ll be beautiful again I just want a nice life for her unstressed so whatever I can do for her I’d like to do.

Great question, let me think about this a little. Perhaps some other individuals with more experience with handicap hens might know.
I know most people say that you should always keep chickens in numbers, but we've had experience with isolated hens and found that with extra human love they actually do quite nicely.

If the flock doesn't end up accepting her, you could maybe opt to let her have her own portion of the yard, and her own special sleep spot. Our first chicken ever was an abandoned hen from down the street, we let her live in our horse barn, by day she was free to roam in the paddock, and by night we picked up er up and put her in a spacious cat carrier on a shelf in one if the stalls. She lived her whole life that way. Laying one sometimes two eggs a day.
It wasn't until she passed that we got our first round of chicks and that was some years later.