Wednesday, October 21, 2009

They've Got Work to Do


Richard opened up 2/3 of the Garden for the Chickens over the last weekend. Those 43 Chickens (38 Hennies and 5 Roosters) have some work to do.

So what do they do in the Garden that is beneficial? They scratch. They clean things up. They eat Garden Waste, like Tomatoes. They eat Bugs. We have noted Grasshoppers which are favored Chicken Treats. Our Feathered Companions on this Little Farm eat Seeds, which may or may not be beneficial. If they eat Weed Seeds, that is great. If they eat our Spring Lettuce Seeds, that will diminish the Spring Crop.

They poop, and their magical Poop is excellent Organic Fertilizer. You could call it part of the Great Circle of Nature. One Being's Waste is another's Fertilizer. The Circle just goes on. I think that may be one of the Great Laws of Nature. Humans could learn something here.
Melanie laughed when she saw the following image. She called it "Famous Last Words". She reminded her Dad that he had said: "Oh, they've got plenty of places to be in the Garden. They won't bother the Turnips." We could call this photo: "Chickens Enjoying Turnip Delights".
Overall, those Chickens are simply fun to watch. We work beside them. They come up to us: "What ya doin'?" We simply find them great Companions in the Garden. I hope that their discussions in the Chicken House this evening give similar favorable reports for the Humans too. ~~~~Note: That 1st Photo is of Ms. Lacey herself. If you have been following this Blog, you know that Lacey was our Broody Hen who had 2 times this summer to "set". The 2nd time was successful and produced 5 healthy Chickens (4 Cockerels and 1 Pullet) who now are fully independent of their Mom. They still hang out together. In the last few weeks, Lacey must have had a talk with her Littles. "I'm done." She now is out and about doing all the Hen things that she did before. Today, she even laid an Egg.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

I love working in the garden with my chickies too. Although, they tend to try and eat anything I set down, including my gloves and sunglasses. ;)

Sue said...

What wonderful photos-I hope to have "chickens-on-the-prowl" next year.