Single hen

[Dippy Egg]

Day 2 with our new chucks. We hung some lettuce in a suet cage from the run ceiling, put a little cooked rice and some rinsed sweetcorn on the floor, all as treats. The hens were mildly interested in them. Then we put a little bit of seed cake that my son had made at school today in their grub trays. They loved it! Sesame seeds, flour, honey & olive oil I think. I could only have a nibble as I am on a diet but it was scrumptious and a definate success with Poppy & Ruby. Probably only suitable in moderation but at least we know what the chucks can ask Santa for!

[Sarah 2]

My kids bought lettuce for our hens. They hated it. But love sweetcorn. Can we have the receipe for the seed cake please?

[starboyhull]

I havent tried our on lettuce yet but I have tried corn on the cob, which if I took it off for them they loved....

 

Tried them on unsalted tinned sweetcorn and they just drop it on the floor and leave it......Ayone else found this with their girls???

 

 

Karl

[chrisnrob]

Tried them on unsalted tinned sweetcorn and they just drop it on the floor and leave it......Ayone else found this with their girls???

 

I think the general consensus is that your girls are unusual in this. Ours love tinned sweetcorn and will gobble it up out of your hand. They also love corn on the cob - Greta runs off down the garden with it with Audrey in hot pursuit!

 

Out of interest, did your chickens come from Omlet?

 

Rob

[xScrunchee]

I think I may spoil my girls a little too much-it's costing me a small fortune!

 

I but them spring greens, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, white cabbage, corn on the cob, tinned sweetcorn, carrots, cuecumber, tomatoes, apples, melon, celery etc.

I actually go out of my way to but it all just for them

The cabbage, broccoli and things go into a hay rack so that they can peck at it and it lasts a lot longer, other things I hang up with string.

 

I have now given them my peg bag and am training them to stick their heads in it and see what goodies are in there. It's working well so far

They have CD's hung up and a block of polystyrene which they ignore completely

I don't want them to get bored!

 

OH says that the girls get treated better than he does!! They lay eggs for me though-he doesn't!!

 

Is it just me being a saddo or does anyone else buy tons of fruit and veg just for their girls??

Surely I am not the only one?

[Dippy Egg]

Seed Cake recipe (as remembered by my 10 year old son whilst concentrating on his PS2 game at the same time) so I hope this is right!

 

Mix 300g flour (not sure what type) with a few ground almonds

 

Add 100g poppy seeds, 100g sesame seeds, 4 tbsp honey, 3 tsp olive oil and mix to a ball (he did say that the oil/honey quantities might be the other way round but I don`t think so)

 

Roll out thinly, mark into small bite size squares and bake.

 

Tastes yummy

[Lovemychooks]

xscrunchee, I do the same !! Nothing is too good for my chooks !!

 

They are definately very spoilt although I think that's because I want them to enjoy the rest of their days because they are ex-battery hens

 

Thanks for the recipie Dippy Egg, will try that at the weekend !

[starboyhull]

We are out of the area for Omlet to deliver so we got ours from a place near Grantham.....Maybe its something they will get used to (would be a lot cheaper)

 

 

Karl

[Olly]

I love seed-cake - but I just use Delia Smith's sponge-cake recipe (for indiividual cakes, not the sandwich sort) and bung in a handful of caraway seeds! Yours sounds interesting, might try it.

 

The only thing I buy specially for my girls are mealworms. I get an organic veggie box every week, and they get all the outside leaves, trimmings etc. and sometimes last week's veg when the new box has arrived and I haven't used all of it!

[Dippy Egg]

Just to let you know, this seed cake is like a flat cracker, similar to those sesame snaps in texture but not as sticky. It is not really a 'cake' cake if you know what I mean!

[redfrock]

 

Is it just me being a saddo or does anyone else buy tons of fruit and veg just for their girls??

Surely I am not the only one?

 

My shopping trolley gets filled up at the veg bit; not only do I cook everything from scratch and we eat tons of fruit and veg (so just why is my backside this big????? ) but then the 5 baby lawnmowers (GPs) and bunny get veg twice a day and the girls get a cabbage or something similar every day if they will be in the big run for any period of time (ie working day) and a tin or carrots (loved even more than sweetcorn) or a tin of corn at weekends. I even have to shop mid week to stock up on more fresh veg.

 

I now take spare eggs into work and have simply asked for donations towards their daily cabbage (sounds like a downmarket tabloid ) to try and ease the burden!