You know what I'll be making this weekend right?It's been so wet and gloomy the past several weeks with one atmospheric river after another pouring down rain, plus gusty winds and hail storms, my 8 hens have been hunkered down under the coop and covered run with only a few rainless spells to chicken-around outside. I felt bad for them, only so much amusement to be had under cover.
We finally had a sunny day today, so I tried out a chicken-toy idea I read somewhere here on BYC: a heavy plastic liter drink bottle with lots of pencil-diameter holes drilled in it, with about a cup of scratch inside. I wasn't sure if they'd be afraid of it, or not figure out how to get the grains out, but hoped they'd be curious and work at it.
Oh, boy, was THAT a hit! Jill the Delaware, Queen Pauline's 2nd in command, is always a very determined and vigorous scratcher and she glommed onto it immediately, kicking the bottle around their yard till a few grains spilled out then stopping to peck them up. She soon had a crowd of VERY eager fans wanting to participate - but she didn't want anyone else to have a turn with rolling the bottle! ("Mine!")
They are usually a very mellow flock, well settled hierarchy, but that scratch bottle brought out the chain of command in sharp detail! Jill was fine with sharing the spilled bits of scratch with her pals Pauline and Xena, but Queen Pauline actually chased away Sheila and Rhonda (#4 & 5 in order), and the other 3 lower ranked girls quickly decided to go do something else entirely.
Pauline's such a mellow flock queen, at times I've thought she'd "abdicated" but she was on full display today -- a smallish Buff Orpington fluffing, flapping and chasing off the much heftier Australorp and RIR! Then she was right back to enjoying the bits of scratch Jill was kicking out of the treat bottle. Well, well...
(There was no violence, pecking, etc.)
When it started to get dark 5 of them were still crowded around playing with the bottle (Jill finally let the others have a turn) to the point that it was after their usual "go to roost" time and only the 3 bottom-rank girls had gone inside. I took the bottle away for the night and they seemed to "come out of it" -- "Oh, wait...how'd it get so late? What am I doing outside?" and one by one meandered into the coop - Pauline last in.
Curfew, girls!
I've never seen them so obsessed with a toy. And they only got about 1/4 of the scratch out of it, if that much, plus lots of exercise rolling it all around their yard. Next time I'll bring my phone out there and try to get video...
Wish I could remember who suggested the scratch bottle idea, I'd love to thank them! Simple, cheap, using stuff already lying around, and the girls absolutely love it. I'll only let them have it a few hours at a time, keep it fresh & novel (and reasonably clean!)
I don't have any liter bottles but I do have some clear gallon jugs from distilled water... hopefully they work well too 
So that was fun but I still find it hard to let go of them when I hatch them. They’re my babies once they’re out of the eggs! 
But that is why I hatched them right? 
I'm so sorry you lost several of your flock especially when you're trying so hard to protect and heal them, and the elements are against you.
