Oh, to clarify, our free range chickens “get” the chiggers and ticks as in the chickens EAT the chiggers and ticks. I’ve never seen evidence of either ON one of our birds, or evidence of a bite.
I know what you mean about the chickens demanding scraps, though! We can’t set cat food outside for our 2 cats during the day, either. It’ll disappear in a few seconds...
We had a serious “rainer” just miss us today. Thankfully! But it looks like chances really ramp up Sat. and Sun. We sure don’t need it for several more days.
A chopper was out, spraying fields around us, late this afternoon. That’s always fun to watch, as he does some pretty “hairy” maneuvering sometimes, “in and out” of those smaller fields with trees around them or silos nearby. I’d love to take a ride with one of those guys sometime, but, I think I’d better make sure my life insurance is paid up, first!
Mrs. Augie's chooks do that too. It's like she's the Pied Piper of chickens. Any time she's putzing about in the yard there's a chicken parade following her looking for a handout.