My Chickens Eat 'Crack'

Now, before I get too far into this blog, it’s important to realize that the chickens are not really mine – they are my wife’s chickens. And each chicken has a name… well, almost every chicken. One of our Rhode Island Reds is named Lucy, the other three are all named Ethel because we can’t tell them apart! So, we have these 20 some-odd chickens running around, with names, who are living a happy, pretty non-eventful life until the day my wife brought home some chicken scratch. If you don’t know, chicken scratch is a mix of grains that is meant to be a treat given occasionally to the chickens. So my wife brings home chicken scratch and gives some to the chickens. They love it. I mean love it. Not like love it nice to have, but rather, love it and I can’t live without it.

In fact, I realized just how bad it was when my wife called me while I was on the road and told me we were out of “Crack” for the chickens. I told my wife I didn’t realize we were giving our chickens drugs… they were supposed to be free range, none antibiotic, and hormone free. But here I am learning that we are not chicken farmers but drug dealers. My logical question is, “but honey, when did we start giving chickens drugs?”.

In her oh so sweet, southern voice she says, “Welllll (she tends to get into a deeper southern accent when she is feeling strongly about something), they eat the chicken scratch like its drugs. They seem to be addicted to it… I think its Crack for chickens.” So, that is how we came to be drug dealers for our chickens!

On a more serious note, the chickens do seem to be producing more with “Crack” feed and I would encourage feeding it at night. When you feed it in the morning they tend to neglect their normal feed and will just eat the “Crack”.

So, if you want to get your Chickens a real treat, just get some Chicken Scratch! They will thank you for it.