What they don't tell you about chickens

Today I raked the yard for the first time this year. Once I started to get the leaves into small piles a couple of hens decided those piles would be much better off spread out, just in case any bugs were hiding in them. I chased them away with the rake a couple times and they pretty much left me alone after awhile.

Similarly, the woman cleaning animal pens at the farm yesterday dumped the scrapings next to my garden in my attempted composting site. Soon after, the girls got right to work spreading that pile out to look for bugs. They aren't stopping for Sunday, either.

This should not have been a surprise to me because this spring I used this quality of theirs to help me prepare a seedbed for a benficial insect attractant mix. In the winter I had spread the contents of animal pens in the area outside the garden where I wanted to plant the mix. I noticed the chickens digging around in it a bit and how nicely broken up and aerated the ground looked after they spent some time there. I spread some of their scratch grains back there so they would concentrate their work, then stopped for awhile before I wanted to seed it.

From all I can tell it worked great. Though not all the seeds in the mix germinated, enough did to fill in the space. Of course, this didn't eliminate weed seeds that are present in the pen contents, but it was much easier than composting.

We love our chickens and they always win over the flowers and the cleanliness of the sidewalk, but leaf piles and compost making are going to have to be protected from them and their natural digging tendencies. I will harness these when I need them.

Girls hard at work making sure this pile is well-aerated, but doesn't heat up: