Boredom Eating for Hens

[bjcoop]

An update....

I have tried many of these new ideas, and my hens seem happier. They definitely love the new treats!

They did eat a big chunk out of the cabbage by the time I got down to the coop. Fortunately, no one seemed sick the next day.
Also put in an old wooden sawhorse, which they really seem to like. They line up on it at night, in their dusting pen and seem to listen to radio. LOL I also tried the spaghetti squash. They LOVED it. Kept them busy all day trying to figure out how to break into it and when they did, it was demolished by nightfall. It gives lots of new ideas for stuff to treat them with. Now, just wish I had a green thumb!
Thanks again for all of the ideas.

Guess there are lots of things to do to keep my girls occupied.
--bjcoop

 

[Catalina]

Your hens are pretty!

I hang a big carrot, apples, lettuce, ect. in my coop, to keep the girls busy.
They looove carrots and it takes them a while to eat one.

 

[bjcoop]

Thanks Catalina,
How do you hang such small treats? The one worry I have is that they will somehow get caught in some wire contraption that I would create and get hurt. maybe the girls are smarter than that, but....
--bjcoop

 

[Catalina]

I use a piece of brown garden twine (not the plastic kind).
At first I was afraid that I would come home to a hung chicken.
The twine looks exactly like a tiny hangman's noose, after they've eaten the carrot, but they seem to be pretty smart.
After the carrot disappears they're not interested in the twine.

 

[Wildsky]

You could make a hole in the carrot - put the twine through and tie it in a big knot so it can't slip back through the hole - so there is no loop or overlap of the twine to hang your girls..

 

[digitS']

A little off topic but just a caution:

Once, I had a broken board in a gate in the barn and tied it together with a piece of twine. The gate was part of wire fencing from floor to ceiling.

I came home to find my cochin bantam hanging by her foot from the string

. . . I still can't even fathom what she was doing on the fence since there was absolutely nothing to perch on. Further, this was a little frumpy cochin hen . . . she never flew anywhere, let alone 3 or 4 feet onto a vertical surface.

Anyway, I have NO idea how long she hung upside down. After being rescued, she didn't seem any worse for the experience

. I very nearly walked right past her after opening and closing the gate - she just was NOT what I was expecting to find hanging on the gate

.

Steve

 

[chickenlady]

I have heard of hanging CDs around. As the chickens peck them, they spin and have different colors. It keeps them busy for a while. Put a couple at different heights. Also, with this you wont have fat chickens from all the extra treats.