When I discover something cool, I can't wait to come and tell my BYC friends....my "normal" friends just don't get it when it comes to this kind of thing! haha. I'm also probably not the first one to think of this (of course not) but maybe some of you haven't yet and I really recommend you try this:
I took a strip of fly paper (mine came from dollar store...it absolutely has NO toxins/poisons of any kind...it is only a big long sticky piece of wax paper) and I layed it flat on a piece of wood on the ground inside my pen. (I used the frame for my pen but you could just use a piece of scrap wood the length of the fly paper. I then took my heavy-duty staple/carpenters staple gun and put a staply every 6 inches or so along the fly paper so it stayed flat and so the turkeys and quail (you may have chickens?) could get a good enough bite on it to tear it off the board. So what you have is just a piece of fly paper stretched out flat and well attached to a piece of wood. Yea....about as simple as it gets....but OH MY GOODNESS....the hours of fun my birds have had "catching" the flies that get stuck.
You wouldn't think something as big as a turkey would get enough food out of a fly to make it worth while....but they will eat those little flies like nothing I've ever given them. At first they just went nuts because several flies had attached before the turkey and quail in my pen figured it all out. After that for endless hours they would "hunt" the flies by crouching down and remaining motionless about a foot away from the fly paper until a fly lands, then they would strike like lightening to grab it (as it it was going to fly away! ha) and would love it. Often my turkeys would actually get into fights becaue they would go for the same fly....trust me....they get SERIOUS about their flies!!! hahaha Who knew? There probably isn't a whole calorie per fly, but my turkeys eat them like candy (I guess thats what they are to turkeys!).
Anyway, while this obviously isn't some big ingenuis investion/discovery, but its incredibly cheap ($1 for 4 rolls of flypaper at Dollar Store) and easy to "assemble" and my birds like it more than any other treat or enrichment item I've ever given them. It gives them a little food treat and gives them something fun to do both....so I think its a great thing and I hope some of you give it a try! Good luck.
Kevin
I took a strip of fly paper (mine came from dollar store...it absolutely has NO toxins/poisons of any kind...it is only a big long sticky piece of wax paper) and I layed it flat on a piece of wood on the ground inside my pen. (I used the frame for my pen but you could just use a piece of scrap wood the length of the fly paper. I then took my heavy-duty staple/carpenters staple gun and put a staply every 6 inches or so along the fly paper so it stayed flat and so the turkeys and quail (you may have chickens?) could get a good enough bite on it to tear it off the board. So what you have is just a piece of fly paper stretched out flat and well attached to a piece of wood. Yea....about as simple as it gets....but OH MY GOODNESS....the hours of fun my birds have had "catching" the flies that get stuck.
You wouldn't think something as big as a turkey would get enough food out of a fly to make it worth while....but they will eat those little flies like nothing I've ever given them. At first they just went nuts because several flies had attached before the turkey and quail in my pen figured it all out. After that for endless hours they would "hunt" the flies by crouching down and remaining motionless about a foot away from the fly paper until a fly lands, then they would strike like lightening to grab it (as it it was going to fly away! ha) and would love it. Often my turkeys would actually get into fights becaue they would go for the same fly....trust me....they get SERIOUS about their flies!!! hahaha Who knew? There probably isn't a whole calorie per fly, but my turkeys eat them like candy (I guess thats what they are to turkeys!).
Anyway, while this obviously isn't some big ingenuis investion/discovery, but its incredibly cheap ($1 for 4 rolls of flypaper at Dollar Store) and easy to "assemble" and my birds like it more than any other treat or enrichment item I've ever given them. It gives them a little food treat and gives them something fun to do both....so I think its a great thing and I hope some of you give it a try! Good luck.
Kevin
