Fascinated Hungry Chickens

Chickens are certainly one of the most popular species of domesticated bird in the world. They are very versatile, they reproduce quite easily and they are an incredible source of food in various ways! Growing up, we didn't really get exposure to them and the other farm animals but since I've been out on my own and married to my wife, where we then had our son, we've really learned a lot about these fluff balls!

Chickens are definitely one of the things that I plan on having when we get a house, they are certainly some work to care for and maintain but they provide such a crucial service to the yard and family. With them not only eating all kinds of bugs in the yard and surrounding area, they provide lots of excellent and delicious eggs, with the right diet of course! The farm that we go to for our food has several hundred chickens, 500 I think just about. That means they have all kinds of wonderful and fresh eggs to collect daily! With that many birds, it also takes a lot to feed them!

One of the things that we learned a few years ago, was that they eat all kinds of stuff! I never really knew what the diet was for chickens, besides the corn feed that people would give them. I know this is because we have gone far astray from what these wonderful birds are normally supposed to be eating.

If it can be believed, chickens are the ancestors of velociraptor dinosaurs. I can certainly believe it! They are absolutely omnivores, where they will eat what is in opportunity for them. If all they are given is corn, that is what they will eat. They love to rummage though! Pecking around looking for bugs to eat and other little morsels. What I didn't realize though was that they love veggies and greens too!

The farmers would give the young kids some heads of lettuce for them to feed the chickens with. When we first saw this we were confused, thinking that they certainly would not eat that. They are birds! Why would they eat lettuce? Sure enough though, they LOVED it! We were completely amazed at that and from then on, we've changed our whole outlook for how these fluffy fellas operate! We feed them a lot of things but mainly try to stick with tall, easy grasses and not ones that are more straw than anything. They also love to eat dandelion! We rip up dandelion leaves all day and they chow that shit down like nobody's business hahaha. It's a remarkable thing to see, really. I never thought they would enjoy it but they love whenever we are there, they all come right over to the side of the cage! If we start to feed them grass, they crowd around and I feel a little bad some of the birds get squished but that's how it goes.

They are also very curious and inquisitive! If I get down to eye level with them, they love that and stare at me to see what's going on. I know that they are a food source though, and we have to keep that in mind. They are allowed a wonderful life and will do it happily but they remain at the end of the day, there for the consumption for people. I know that some don't eat them or meat and that's fine but they provide an incredible amount of nutrients and valuable other components for many different aspects of life. What I like is that most of the farm animals get used 100%. Nothing goes to waste from them and that's important. It goes to show the animals the most respect they can have in their lives to raise them, feed them well and slaughter them for their ultimate use but to also use every piece of them in one way or another is an important step. This shows more respect to me than just letting them roam around and eventually die or get killed by a predator. They will die one way or another, we might as well do the best we can to help them live comfortably, and serve a greater purpose to us in the long run!