Scratching around the dill patch, eating old seeds, bugs and new seedlings. Soon they will be fenced out of this area, but for now they can enjoy the forage and we have the benefits of their scratching and manure to fertilize.

Our chickens at Quail Run Farm are free range all year long.  At nights we close them in a coop to protect them from predators, but every morning the coop doors are open wide for our girls to explore and feast on fresh grasses and bugs, the natural diet of chickens. In the winter the girls tend to stick very close to home, they don’t like walking in the snow, so they either hang out in the coop or under the coop where they have shelter. When the days start getting longer and warmer, and the snow starts to recede the girls get adventurous again range widely across the farm, enjoying the new fresh grass, a welcome variety to their normal winter ration.

Working hard turning the compost pile for me, eating bugs, worms and old seeds.