Avian Aqua Miser: Automatic, poop-free chicken waterers

Dark Cornish begin to forage

Dark Cornish cockerelAfter less than a month in the larger forest pasture paddock, our cockerels have scratched the place up drastically.  I'm actually a bit shocked, and am revising my opinion of their foraging abilities.  It took our flock (larger then) two months to reach this stage in the much smaller paddock.  What's going on?

I've got a few hypotheses, as always.  Maybe Dark Cornish really come into their own as they reach Panting chickenssexual maturity.  Or could it be they watched the Mama hen and her chick foraging and followed suit?  Or maybe the vastly increased foraging is an optical illusion, brought on by the recent lack of rain, which has slowed down the weed growth and made it easier for the chickens to devastate their pasture.

While I was in the pasture conducting my photo shoot, I also stumbled across this chicken, who looks quite different from the others.  Could she be a pullet rather than a cockerel?  She seems Dark Cornish pulletto have nearly no comb and her speckled feathers are quite distinct from her brothers'.  Suddenly I'm caught on the horns of a dilemma.  Should I save a hen and rooster to keep the breed going and give them another try next year, perhaps using the Mama hen as a foraging trainer?  Or stick to my guns and eat the lot?  Decisions, decisions!

Treat your chickens to a homemade chicken waterer and protect them from heat exhaustion.


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