This is a chicken snack…on a fork. Cow pie a la mode…sans la mode…
It’s cow manure, aged to perfection (about 2 days old). Cow manure has lots of interesting things in it for chickens to scratch out. Normally, the chickens find cow manure each time I move them to new pasture but during the heat wave the birds are stuck in the front yard. I’m bringing them cow manure. It should also add fertility to the yard. Not a bad thing.
Anyway, serve at room temperature and without a plate. Chickens really make pigs of themselves. No reason to wash dishes afterward.
One curious bird starts a trend. Then the other ladies join in.
I don’t really know what they are finding but they are doing more than just digging. Cow manure has many things that are helpful to a chicken’s digestion. Now, don’t gross out. Chickens aren’t people. This is a very normal thing they are doing. Birds follow herbivores in nature doing this very work.
Just a few minutes later and the cow pie is gone.
In the early spring when there are large flocks of red-winged black birds roosting in the trees…so many it’s hard to have a conversation outside, the cow pies get decimated.
They love it. Our chickens love it. The pasture benefits from it. Everybody wins.
Chism Heritage Farm 
your titles….lol. I like the shots of the chickens decimating their “snack”. Joel Salatin talks about it, but never seems to have a good picture of the birds in the act.
I couldn’t have gotten a picture of today’s cow pie. They destroyed it almost instantly. It’s fun having the flock next to the house. Shame we won’t have a front lawn anymore but…who cares. The chickens will survive the heat.
When you said “In the early spring,” I thought you were going to say “there will be dark green circles of grass in the lawn.” 😀
Thanks for the chickens today. They are in the freezer and will be starring in a dinner soon!
Here’s a delicious recipe for whole chicken in the crock pot that you should try. One of our favorites.
http://christmasnotebook.com/2009/11/17/crock-pot-rotisserie-style-chicken/
~~Rhonda
Thanks Rhonda. You said you are putting up 200 pounds of peaches. I would guess that to be about 4 bushels. Can you give me a quick rundown of the various ways you preserve it? We made some peach and dewberry jam that’s pretty good. Peach salsa and peach pie filling are in the works for today.
Our chickens’ favorite drought treat is sweet corn on the cob (even after a human eats it off the cob). They go absolutely crazy, especially if you refrigerate it first!
Right on. I hadn’t thought about chilling the leftover cobs but that makes a lot of sense on a hot day.
I don’t refrigerate them, but the chickens do get our corn cobs, and Edgars right – they trump almost everything in the snack department, except maybe watermelon rinds.