Feeding sunflower seeds to chickens

After
harvesting
the sunflowers and
hanging them up to dry for a couple of weeks, I decided to split the
crop with our chickens.  I brushed the seeds out of the biggest
sunflowers by hand while the heads were still malleable, and set the
seeds aside to dry for next year’s planting and to make oil.  The
smaller heads were earmarked for our flock.



I took Bethany’s advice
and hung
one sunflower plant upside down in our oldest hens’ tractor.  When I came back to
check on them an hour later, the seed heads were nearly bare, but one
hen kindly went back to work and posed for the camera.  Clearly,
the sunflowers in their natural state are no problem for keen chicken
beaks.