Bored chickens

[mdbokc]

Mow your grass with the mulching blades with the bagger and long grass blades won't be a problem.

 

[tdgill]

Quote:
ahHHHHh. sounds right! I have been known to use a pair of scissors and pick weeds (they look like cabbage leaves and the chickens love them) and cut them up small.

 

[Bizzy]

Thanks, ya'll! These ideas are great. I'm going to try out the "chicken tree", for sure.

How do you hang the cabbage head?? I'm thinking inside an old net bag that onions come in, but I suspect they would tear it apart & eat the plastic...

I do have a plastic pail in the run, upside down. It's funny to hear them "drumming" on it with their beaks!

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I have a really large suet feeder (for squirrel cakes) from Lowe's. I stuff it full of squash, apples, cabbage, tomatoes and now pumpkin--. It hangs about 3" above their heads and they spend hours, eating from it.. I also use the mulching blades and throw the clippings to my chickens (I actually bring it back from our farm--which is so lush, and has real grass--not this centipede stuff)! I purchase a tube of crickets (check your bait shops) every few days and pour them into the run and throw hay on top of them--just before I open the coop in the morning....the chickens go wild.. Cut a hole in a large pumpkin and place it in the run..after a few days, I bust it up for them to finish off.. I have several different size plastic flower pots that I pour feed on..and I move things around every few days--the seeds have sprouted so they have those to dig for. Someone told me to place a cement block, a really large rock or bricks in the run so they can use it to sharpen their bills and nails..

 

[spammy]

I have hung a few compact discs on fishing line from tree branches. When the sun reflects off the discs the chickens chase the reflection. It also keeps the roosters busy.

 

[Ken H]

I just free range mine. The crows keep the hawks at bay so far. My coop is lined with a 4-6" deep carpet of grass clippings(mulched). Just found out they simply love chunky surloin burger soup(my wife was feeling poorly and did'nt eat the soup she requested). Canned peas are another favorite treat. I set in the garage and read(no smoking in the house) when the girls know I'm in there, they peck at the garage door trying to get me to come out with treats.Lol

 

[Chickn chick 46]

I have a few tree stumps in the run, an old wooden step ladder that they perch on and we left some low branches on the oak tree for them to fight over. Its a small branch and of course its monkey see monkey do, so when one gets on the branch no doubt one of the others will come by as if to say "hey I was going to get up there, thats my spot, get down." Just like small children they are.

I'm still waiting for the leaves to fall but when they do, we chop them up with the lawn mower, compost some and save some for the hens runs.

I really think my chickens would run from a cricket

 

[tdgill]

i have a old door mat and a couple car mats in and around the run or coop. crickets love to hide there and the chickens know that i will flip the carpet for them. i hear that cardboard or a piece of plywood works just as good