on chickens and eating right

I think he is a wild Red Junglefowl. But I call him Arthur.

Well I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we have a bunch of roosters and hens in our backyard. Note, non-chicken people -- male chickens are roosters, or cocks (for some reason I just prefer calling them roosters okaay). If they're under a year old, they're called cockerels. Female chickens are hens, and if they're under a year old, they're called pullets. So don't be saying "chickens and hens", 'cause that would just be uncool.

Anyway, these roosters and hens have been hanging out in our backyard for years -- we've literally seen generations come and go. We don't know where they came from, they just appeared one day and stayed. Needless to say, we've gotten rather fond of the little things (well, not very little really), and have gotten to know their various ways and idiosyncrasies over time. Knowing them personally does pretty much mean that we'd never dream of touching them for any part of their... um... bodies; happily, the whole neighbourhood does seem to feel the same way.

Well obviously, one of the big challenges for wild chickens is eating right. Everyone in the neighbourhood helps feed them, but I'm sure it doesn't really help when well-meaning people throw any leftovers they have at them. Man, I even remember my Mom asking me one time if I felt it was inappropriate to give them her leftover chicken rice (this is made with rice cooked in chicken stock, so um, yeah) (we didn't).

So I'd give them the sort of things which I felt was ok for them -- birdy things, like bread, oatmeal, sunflower seeds and rice. But then I started wondering what healthy treats I could give them, since sometimes they did look like they could do with some. I was curious if they could eat bananas, cheese, and well, yes, cat food.

And wonderfully, I found this awesome page! Isn't it great? An entire chart of chicken treats, as well as what not to feed (and yep, it included cat food). I especially like what the author had to say about feeding chickens cooked chicken: "They may like it and it won't kill them, but it just seems so...... ummm......... wrong"... hahahaha...

And then, in the list of what not to feed: "Candy, Chocolate, Sugar". Why? "Their teeth will rot… No, it’s just bad for their systems..." hahaha... Well I thought I'd share this great site with any of you backyard chicken feeders and breeders out there -- you know who you are ;)

O! And just as I was running out into my backyard to take a picture of our rooster, I saw this lovely yellow bird fly down into one of the trees. Unfortunately, it only stayed about two seconds, and I could only catch its back, but it's still very pretty non? Anyone know what type it might be?