Today I figured out the trick to getting chickens to eat alfalfa hay with out them wasting most of it.  Don't break open the bale.  This may be getting a great big "so what" from some of you and albiet it's not the most amazing eureka moment but for me it make a big difference.
I like my chickens to get a enough greenery since that is what makes the difference between an egg with healthy cholesteral (HDL) as opposed to a conventional laying hen that puts out eggs high in unhealthy cholesterol (LDL)  the kind that causes arterial plaque build up. Now getting enough greenage for our flock is tricky, we have a small backyard and when the garden is in the chickens are definitely not allowed in it, so I built an extra run for them to get grass two or three times a week during the growing season.  I supplement that with garden weeds and lawn clippings from my trusty ol' 1970-ish snapper mower.  In the wintertime the side run is out of commission and there are no garden weeds or lawn clippings to offer.  So if I want my hens to get grasses and wild greens that means I either need to make extra trips to the salad bar at the co-op or I need to get them hay.  Just try breaking open a bale of hay, especially alfalfa, for a flock of chickens and stand back and watch.  In a matter of minutes all the most nutritious bits and pieces will be pulverized and stirred into the dirt.
Putting a whole un-broken bale into the run seems to solve this problem.  The flock pecks and tears off the hay and the nutritious but fragile alfalfa leaves bit by bit leaving little saucer shaped depressions in the bale and wasting hardly any hay at all. Voila!  problem solved.  The alfalfa gives the added benefit of being high in protein, vitamins, and minerals, that really make for not only more eggs but much better tasting ones as well, mmmm....

This line of thought got me thinking about my favorite chicken related songs.....
-Cluck old hen (traditional)
The old favorite, the best line from this one is "my old hen she had a wooden leg, best dang hen ever layed an egg, layed more eggs than any hen around the barn another peck a' whiskey wouldn't do me any harm."  Kid friendly version would be " another piece of pie ...."
-Teenage mutant kung-fu chickens (Ray Stevens)  gloriously ridiculous song, you have to listen to it the whole way through to appreciate, it just make sure you're alone when you do.  This song may lower other's opinion of your I.Q.
-Who broke the lock on the henhouse door? (trad.)
This one seems to appreciate the ......emmmm shall we say "relationship" between rooster and flock pretty well
My old rooster's very old
The things he done just can't be told
Toes curled up, he can't hardly scratch
but the the little hens say his eggs still hatch

Take care untill later-  Greg