Chicken Brain

Ah.. ten days off work and I decided to take a little hiatus. Lovely holiday, merriment was had. Back to the ebb and flow of things.

Christmas morning I made a delicious apple pie, which I enjoyed for breakfast many mornings after. I had two dogs (one borrowed) and a cat keeping me company in our toasty house. And I just kept thinking about the urban chickens huddling together on the chilly morning. So I decided to share some Christmas morning goodies with the girls.

I piled the apple peels in a bowl, piled on some steaming oatmeal, and sprinkled chicken scratch over the combo like a big sundae. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. (The picture to the right is pre-seed topping)

Now, I know chickens are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. And I love them for other reasons. But man, they really shock me with the lack of intelligence sometimes. I hope this isn’t mean, but they are just really stupid – there is a reason the phrase “chicken brain” exists, and it’s not meant to be complimentary. Basically, they pecked off the seeds, nibbled at some of the oatmeal, but never understood the apple peels. The existence of delicious, fresh, sweet fruit was lost on them. Seriously girls. Seriously. What did you eat before people dried seeds for you and made chicken pellets?

Sigh. I will have to continue relying on the compost bin as the recipient of most kitchen scraps, but you can’t say I’ve never tried exploring their culinary pea-sized minds.