Our flock of chickens free range all year. Grazing grass, chasing bugs, and digging in the dirt for anything they find tasty not only is the best diet, but also keeps the chickens entertained and happy. In the winter when grass is buried in snow, there aren’t any bugs to chase and the ground is too frozen to dig in, feeding grain sprouts is a good way to supplement their diet. It’s a way to add something fresh to their diet, plus it adds something interesting for them to do when it’s too cold to go out and scratch around.

Feeding sprouted grains is also a good way to stretch the feed budget. Buying grain in bulk is usually cheaper than buying premade feed. In addition to that, sprouted grain contains more protein, vitamins, minerals, omega 3, and amino acid and has a higher enzymatic activity than unsprouted grain. The digestibility of the grain nearly doubles so the chickens eat less which means you feed less.
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Unfortunately Ms. Sassy Cluck’s eggs didn’t hatch. We aren’t sure what happened because we gave her three eggs to sit on and when we checked there were only two. There wasn’t any broken egg shell in the nest nor was there any evidence that a third egg was even there. I’m sure she probably ate it, but who knows. I guess counting eggs can be about like counting chickens, ya never know how many you’re going to end up with. We cracked open the two and there were almost fully developed chicks in them, so the chicks didn’t die too far before they were due to hatch.

We put Ms. Sassy Cluck outside….
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Oh, those broody hens….how they make gathering eggs such a challenging adventure. They will squawk, get sassy, peck, grab the skin on your hand with their beak and pinch…anything to keep their eggs from being taken. In fact, that’s how the handle of my big plastic spoon, the one that I use to stir soaked grain for the chickens with, got broken. I was using it to battle a very, very, broody hen, so I could gather the eggs under her, and SNAP… it broke right in two. I wasn’t hitting her with it or anything like that; I was simply pushing her back with it so I could get the eggs under her. She didn’t like it at all and fought back with all her might and won the battle. It’s really hard to decide sometimes which is meaner, a rooster protecting his flock or a broody hen protecting her clutch of eggs.

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You know how that old saying goes; don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried counting chickens but let me tell you, it’s not an easy task. They move around, blend in with things, even roost way up high in a corner where you don’t see them, plus so many look alike it’s nearly impossible to remember which ones you counted, and which ones you didn’t. No matter how many times you count them, you can never come up with the same number twice. So that got me to thinking… if you count your chickens before they hatch, there’s no guarantee you will have an accurate count, but then if you count your chickens after they hatch, there’s still no guarantee you will get an accurate count. So when, exactly, is the best time to count your chickens??
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Since being moved to the barn, the keets have grown a lot and are doing great. Their feathers have mostly grown in and they are starting to resemble grown guineas…

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A month ago, if someone would have told me we’d be adding some keets to our farm yard, I would have said, “Some what???”, because I would have had no idea what they were talking about. Even if I would have known that keets are baby guineas, I still would have said, “Some what???”, because we have plenty of critters running around here and we don’t need to add any more ruckuses to the ruckus we already have. My family and I first learned about guineas at our county fair. We were visiting with someone that brought one as an exhibit, and who also raises them. He was telling us that guineas were excellent at keeping bugs down and have even been known to gang up on and kill small snakes. We decided to think about it and possibly get some in the future.
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