Free Ranging

No scraps for the girls today so I'm letting them free range. Only trouble is keeping them from going too far down the hill or over to our neighbors. So I've planted myself in a lawn chair at our fence entrance and am keeping them in check while Maiyo's splashing in puddles:)

I've decided to change their diet of lay pellets and corn/soy scratch to a more natural and unprocessed diet of whole grains. Along with all our kitchen scraps, this diet will help them produce even better tasting eggs with more frequency as well!

Anyway, I've been researching recipes for a while and finally Pam over at Peaceful Vally Farms posted her concoction and I'm super excited to try it out. All I have left to find is Whole Oats, amazingly, all of our local feed stores are out at this time.

Here's the recipe if you're interested, but check out Pam's blog for more detailed info.

Chicken Feed

3 parts Rye (grass seed)
9 parts Barley
9 parts Oats
9 parts Wheat (winter red)
4 parts Black Oiled Sunflower Seeds
3 parts Flax Hansen
2 parts Oyster Shell
Plus Grits, Greens & Bugs

Can give chicken bones from stock! Lentils & peas are good too

I'll post results a few weeks after I've switched their diet, probably in April, but Pam says its working well and she has 50 chickens, so I'm pretty sure it'll be awesome!