Bored Birds

[Brahma Chicken5000]

@Runt of the Flock to keep them from being bored maybe get a flock block for them to peck at. Or suspend a cabbage one and a half to two feet off the ground.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Pulling neck and saddle hackle feathers is almost always a sign of low dietary protein. Trying to play keep away with these feathers is another almost sure symptom of insufficient protein.

 

[Runt of the Flock]

@Runt of the Flock to keep them from being bored maybe get a flock block for them to peck at. Or suspend a cabbage one and a half to two feet off the ground.

Yes, we put cabbages up, as you can see in my original post.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

No one much is going to like this but I owe it to the chickens, so here goes.

A sure antidote for chicken boredom is a deep layer of dry wheat straw, or shredded corn shucks in which all or at least half of your hens daily feed is tossed. This will encourage your birds to scratch and turnover their bedding or litter. Chickens that have something to do (look for their food) and a reward for doing something (finding their food) never get bored.

There is almost nothing more useless as food than a swinging head of cabbage. Cabbages FYI were a food staple in Nazi concentration camps. The reason was that food like boiled cabbages (with or without the broth and minus any fat) weakened the concentration camp inmates and made it easier to liquidate those poor souls when their usefulness to their captors was over.

To put a "treat" like cabbage into its proper perspective, chickens get more relief from boredom or more relief from insufficient amounts of protein by chasing their fellow inmates around and around in the forlorn hope of getting a little taste of feathers.