At the Mother Earth News fair, there were many vendors. When I was walking by the Manna Pro booth, a woman working at the counter asked me if I had chickens.
Well, if there’s ever a conversation starter for me that’s it.
“Yes, I did,” I told her. “Tell me about what you have.” She told me about the Manna Pro feed options and then she handed me sample bags of Harvest Delight and Garden Delight for poultry. Filled with seeds, dried fruits, and oils, this stuff looked good enough for me to eat. Instead of eating it though (my eyes were on the mashed potato bar), I filled out a form requesting more information and then tucked the sample into my bag.
“Here take this one too,” she said as she handed me another bag of treats.
Fine with me, I don’t give my chickens many treats because we give them so many kitchen scraps but I’m always looking for a quality high fat and protein boost to give them during our New Hampshire cold winters.
When I got home, I called the flock together and handed out the Harvest and Garden delights. Um, to say that it was a big hit is probably an understatement. They loved it and because of this response (and the incredible ingredient list) I’m going to be *supplementing* my flock’s winter feed with an occasional burst of Harvest Delight (along with a seed blocks and some wild bird suet blocks.)
When I took the third sample bag out, imagine my surprise when I saw that it was Goat Treats.
I don’t have a goat.
But I am one thrifty mama hen and I’ll be darned if I throw anything out. Figuring that our dog Pippin (who desperately needs a haircut) looks much like a tiny sheep these days, (stay with me on this one) and that sheep are sort of in the same category as goats, I gave a few of the treats to Pippin as he sat in my office chair watching me write.
That’s Pippin, our over-due-for-a-haircut Maltese
It turns out that my dog loves Goat Treats. They are the perfect size for a tiny mouth and the anise in them will no doubt help with his dog breath.
Do I recommend giving Goat treats to dogs? Nope, can’t do that (but remember that dogs lick down yonder, so Goat Treats have to be many steps above that nutritional soup.) But there seems to be nothing in the Goat Treats ingredients that would be harmful to dogs – it’s just that they haven’t been manufactured for dogs.
Would *I* personally get some of these treats for *my* dog who seems to love them? You betcha. I’m thinking that a very well behaved Pippin just might find a bag or two of Goat Treats under the tree this year.
Note: I’m going to contact Manna Pro to ask if there any problems with
feeding Goat Treats to a dog – just to be sure.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at Wendy@SimpleThrift.com
Also, join me on Facebook to find out more about the flock (children and chickens) and see some pretty funny chicken jokes, photos of tiny houses, and even a recipe or two.
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