Winter Barn Chores

It has been very cold here the last several weeks, we had an ice storm last weekend and today it is snowing. The night time temperatures have been in the low 20s, All these cold temps make my barn chores a little.... well I will be honest here...A Lot more challenging!

I have now started taking warm mash down to the barn in the mornings for the Chickens, Turkeys and Rabbits.

The chickens and the Turkeys got a mixture of oat meal and layer mash, mixed with hot water that I added some skim milk powder and a small amount of molasses with it for a little more nutrition and just a touch of a sweet treat, boy o boy did the chickens like that! they were all scampering, pushing and pecking their way to the bowl for some!
The Turkeys.... well, I think they have convinced themselves that I must be trying to poison them with any new food, they avoided it like it was something really bad and one of the Toms kept grunting and running at the bowl like he was trying to scare it away! I will give them a few days with it and they should start getting the idea of what it is and that I really am not trying to poison them!

The rabbits got a little warm oatmeal with the skim milk and molasses.

The warm mash gives them something to eat and drink while I defrost the waterers and refill them for the day.

I am going to make a treat for the rabbits today and thought I would share the recipe, I would love to take a picture but my camera has been temporarily misplaced.

Here is the Home Made Rabbit treat recipe,

like any other treats I would feed this in moderation!

1 small carrot, pureed
1/2 banana, mashed until really creamy
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup rabbit pellets, ground finely in a coffee grinder
1/4 cup ground oats, ground finely in a coffee grinder
Mix pureed carrot, banana and honey in a medium bowl. Add pellet powder and ground oats. Mix until blended. Knead in your hands for 1-2 minutes. Roll out the "dough" in 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick layers between sheets of plastic wrap. Cut into small cookies (about 3/4 inch across). Place cut shapes onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes (check to make sure they are not browning too much). Turn off the heat and let the cookies sit in the warm oven for an hour or so.