The Great Backyard Chicken Adventure, part 13 – Free Range Fun

The girls get out in the yard a couple of times a week, around four or five in the afternoon. They jump up on the gorgeous rich earth of the veggie bed (not fenced yet) and scratch with gusto. Sometimes I try to do a little gardening while they wander, and if I find a bug I’ll hold it out for whoever’s fastest (Thelma). If I try to plant a little seedling they come over to investigate. They see the planting hole and say (I’m paraphrasing here) “I can dig that hole for you” and join in with great enthusiasm. Seedlings go flying, they scratch dirt on each other, all great fun! For not being lap-chickens they get up close and personal while I’m gardening, crowding up against me to check out the planting, stepping on my arms or legs to get in close to the action. They do chomp down on young tender green shoots of wayward grass, some of the dandelions…and they trim back new growth on the beets. Hmm. Must fence off veggie bed soon. I shake the scratch cup and they come back into the run for dinner, easy-peasy.