I don't trim my mellons close to the rind

[rpcrowe]

They are a great treat

For my girls on a hot day. By the end of the day, there will be nothing left except the green portion of the rinds.

We actually have six hens. The black Australorp was in the laying box doing her duty. We get three to six eggs a day which is plenty for my wife and I. In fact, we often share our scrambled eggs with the dogs.
The pans are recycled baking pans reserved only for the chickens as a health safety factor.
The chicken area is about eight hundred square feet, is fenced in from the rest of our yard - which gives it a double barrier against predators (and also keeps our dogs away from the chicken poop). It is beneath a tall oak tree which shades the area all day long. It is easily ten degrees cooler in the chicken area than up by our house. The girls stay in two hen houses at night. We walk down to the chicken area about dusk and usually find the girls already in their houses. They each have their own roosting places within the houses and the only time there is a disturbance is when one hen takes another hen's spot. Talk about pecking order
BTW: The eggs from these "free range" chickens are really wonderful and far better than the eggs from commercial producers... I am told that they have lower cholesterol but, I know the yokes are a deeper color and that they taste really great...

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[JBW]

Yesterday we harvested coconuts. Our geese and turkey thoroughly enjoyed stripping out the last of he meat. Come to think about it so did Choco our dog.

[Wavelength]

I really enjoyed seeing this; i had about 20 of them in the backyard few years back, kept fenced around in an open area. However due to several reasons they were handed over to one of my friend. I always enjoy keeping them.

[rpcrowe]

I have never owned chickens before and I am astounded how personable that these hens can be, My wife has named each of them and I swear that they answer to their names.

As we walk down to the chicken area, the chickens get excited because they know that our coming means treats. Melons, other scrap veggies (no potatoes we've been told), all kinds of fruit except citrus and especially grapes. These girls will kill for red grapes and eat them out of our hands.

We capture the snails we see on our way down to the chicken area and the girls just love them.

When we don't have a natural treat for them, they get "surf and turf" which is a commercial freeze dried mixture of small grass shrimp and meal worms which the chickens love, If they are not in their coop when we get down to the chicken area. we throw a bit of surf and turf into the coop and the hens race right in to grab it.

We originally picked out this area as a "secret garden" because it is the coolest part of our property. However, when we got the chickens, it was obvious that this was the best place to locate them!

Our neighbor comes down and feeds them apples across the fence and they run up to her also. Whenever she has guests in her home, she brings them down to meet the chickens. So much for the excitement of rural life

[Wavelength]

Don't they have male companion? or only parthenogenetic eggs?

[IzzieK]

We used to have them when we were young and living in the farm. I was in charge of getting eggs in the morning and it is an excuse for my grandmother to wake me up early before school (I was three...!!! but I go to "school", more like daycare but it was an actual school.)