Cooking for chickens

Hot brekkie, fit for a chicken!

Hmm, so I have to confess this week on my mind very much is the lack of time I've been spending with my chickens. I often worry about the lack of time we have together. I like my chickens, chickens are cool. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ignorning them or anything, we've had the normal house chicken invasion of a morning, when they all try and pelt inside the minute you open the door, trying to get a quick cuppa.....  We also have the normal scramble for food when you get out there - trying not to trip over the enthusiastic little monsters holding a hot bowl of grub in your hand, sleepy, wellies on over pj's is difficult, I can tell you. Whilst they are grateful and very 'flocky' when you're out with them, I'd rather not squish one under a wellie. 

I made it up today when I went out and talked to them this morning to reassure them I've not forgotten them, its just been a bit of a busy week, that's all. And, that I still like them very much. And they rewarded me with a lovely lot of eggs, clever hens! I collected them in my woolly hat! How pretty are they!

One thing I do like about this time of year is I wake up in the morning to an odd (but now familiar) homely smell of the slow cooker making brekkie. Its not for porridge for us dear readers, oh no, its a slow cooker full of yummy scraps and hot grain for the chooks. Yip - I cook for my chickens - what can I say, I'm clearly deranged, the man-child scoffs at this 'cooking for the chookies' malarkey, but I know they enjoy it.  Honest they do! I truly believe they do! Peedie likes it too when the chickens get food in the mornings, he often tries to join them!

The proof of the pudding is that last year they laid all winter long, and this year whilst we've seen a peedie decline in laying from 8 a day to 4-6 a day over the past week or two as the lights reduced. However, they are still laying lovely fresh eggs for me and I'm sure its due to the hot-slobbery-grub in the mornings. Well I guess I don't cook for them in the mornings, that is a bit of a fib - it gets cooked in the the slow cooker over night, which goes on at bedtime, with the previous days scraps in it. 

The chicken 'slobber' delight is a concoction which changes every day - this generally includes a handful of grain (free from work) put into the slow cooker in the morning with a bit of water to soak and throughout the day scraps are added, and scraps until bed time when its popped on the lowest setting at bedtime. If the concoction looks particularly revolting - I lob in a teaspoon of cinnamon or cloves or something nice and aromatic to make the house smell nice when I wake up, rather than of chicken slobber. I'm not THAT nice to my chickens by seasoning the scraps, its purely for the kitchen to smell yummy.

The added bonus of a slow cooker on over night is that its on the low electricity cost, it cooks the bits chickens normally won't eat like onions and lemons, or veggie scraps which wouldn't get a second look at raw are scoffed down quite the thing if cooked up into a warm delightful brekkie. The other great thing about a slow cooker chugging away all night is that the kitchen gets a nice warm glow about it and is all cosy when you wake up too.

I'm convinced a hearty warm slobbery breakfast has seen my chickens through last winters cold and helped them  to lay all year round - I wonder how long they'll lay into this winter and will we make it through the darkest months like last year with fresh lovely eggs? 

Fingers crossed we will, I'm happy to keep up my end of the bargain if they will. Chickens are most definitely cool, and worth a bit of effort to keep happy.