Morning Chores / Critter Care

It gets busy at sunrise. Luckily, it’s only for a half hour or so AND it is entirely of our own design by spoiling our critters with gourmet feasts to no end.

Most “chicken folk”, throw the days ration of store-bought generic feed on the ground as they let the birds out of their coops. For us?

Prepare chicken feed:

1. In a large bowl, add 7 scoops of organic/non-GMO feed.
2. Add 3 hard boiled eggs and any eggshells used the previous day.
3. Add a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese and or cottage cheese/yogurt.
4. Add 8 good shakes of cayenne pepper (organic of course – as all ingredients are).
5. Add 8 good shakes of oregano.
6. Add 6 good shakes of garlic powder.
7. Using a potato masher, grind up and mix thoroughly all ingredients.
8. Set bowl aside.

Prepare feral cat breakfast:

1. In a bowl, add scoop of cat kibble.
2. Mix in about 1/3 of a can of mackerel/salmon or tuna.
3. Sometimes, we’ll crumble in some stale white bread or buns.

Head out to the barn with both bowls. I first ring a cowbell as I walk out the back door to summon the cats and announce breakfast. I’ll typically feed the cats first so they stay out of the way while addressing the chickens. (The ferals also get another helping of the same at closing (coop) time, which is sundown).

Returning to the counter outside the front coop, for the chickens, I’ll scoop 3 cups of the feed mix into each of the 2 larger feeders, which are 4″ pvc pipe cut in half lengthwise to make 2 trays. Lacking protection from the elements, these go in the back chicken run/barnyard that is protected by the barn lean to roof.

As I venture to the back with the trays, this is when I’ll know if there is something in the live-trap I set out there (with peanut butter bait) overnight. More days than not this week, I’ve either trapped another possum or more often another skunk. If it’s a possum, I throw a towel over the trap and carry it to the back of the barnyard by the big gate. These are turned over to a local trapper who is releasing them at his farm, since he claims their numbers are way down (you could have fooled me). If I can’t reach him, I’ll release them in the National Forest up the road about 5 miles. However, if it is another skunk, they are humanely dispatched and I drag the trap over to the gate. Later, I’ll dump their carcass in the opposite corner of our property and the coyotes typically haul them away within a day or 2.

With that out of the way, once I place the trays in their holders, I fling open the barn door and the chickens rush out to feast.

Then, I’ll return to the front and scoop out 2 more cups of feed into each of 3 more trays (2″ pipe). 2 go into holders in the front chicken run. Depending on the weather, I’ll put on the “roofs” to these if needed. Then, I open the front coop door and that flock rushes out. Some instantly go directly to those feeders. Others rush to the back to eat out of the bigger ones with no roof, and a surprising number of them skip the feeders altogether and go out into the barnyard to find worms and bugs in the morning dew.

The 3rd tray goes in the middle chicken run, outside the infirmary and middle coop, which we call the battered hens shelter. This also gets a roof if needed.

With everyone in the barn now fed, I’ll check all the water stations and top off as needed. The chickens will get a 2nd helping as I replenish the trays from the remainder in the bowl around noon – usually 6 or so more scoops.

Meanwhile, the dogs are watching my every move in the morning because they know they are next. As I return to the house, they excitedly run to the front door for they know I’ll be coming out the front to retrieve their dishes from the porch. Once I do, they sit patiently at the door and will whine if I close it as they like to watch me prepare it. To pacify them during this, I give them each a pro-biotic chewy to munch on.

Prepare dog(s) food:

1. In each bowl, add 1 tbsp of coconut oil.
2. Add about 2 cups of veggies. These are the store-bought frozen variety and is typically a mix of carrots, squash, beans, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower etc.
3. Add a large tbsp of cottage cheese or yogurt.
4. One tbsp of raw ground meat. This is purchased from a local butcher shop and is labelled as “pet nutrition – not for human consumption” and is either ground chicken, pork or beef.
5. I’ll also conceal a omega-3 fish oil capsule inside the glob of meat.
6. Add 4 or 5 chunks of organ meat. We started with partially cooked beef liver but now prefer beef hearts since the liver is where toxins are filtered out. We’ve also used beef tongues when that is all that is available.
7. Add 1 raw chicken wing, purchased frozen in a big 10 lb bag.
8. Add 7 shakes of apple cider vinegar (about 1/4 cup).
9. Add a cup of 2 of “organ juice” from when we thawed/partially cooked the organ from step 6 or will use organic beef broth when that’s all we have.
10. The final topping is a sprinkle of frozen blueberries.

I’ll set their bowls down on the front porch and they both eagerly “wolf” them down. They both save the chicken wings until the end and will carry them off to their favorite places to munch and enjoy. In the evening (sundown), they simply get kibble – which is also their treat/reward during the day for frisbee time or other activities. They are very easy to bribe!

Prepare Luther’s food.

Luther is our remaining domestic cat who resides on the front porch, when he’s not out hunting. As I let the dogs out to pee at 5am, he is already there on his perch by the door whining for food, as his dish is often raided overnight by the ferals and is always empty by morning. So I will scoop him some kibble until I get some coffee in me. However, when I feed the dogs, he is ready for more but not more kibble. Instead, he gets a simple delicacy that is easy to prepare. In a small dish, he gets about a teaspoon of fresh tuna bathed in a good portion of hot water. He sips the water mostly but sometimes will eat the tuna as well.

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That’s it. That’s my morning. What do I eat? Who has time for that?
No wonder I am getting so skinny 😉