Chicken Entertainment?

[Kezzie]

We put boards down on the ground for flies and bugs to lay eggs under. When they're flipped over, the chickens go crazy eating the larvae. We also grow clover and buckwheat beside the run and toss some in every day.

 

[txchickie]

Is it possible for you to get alfalfa hay? I'm not familiar with things in CT

When my babies are too young to be let out to free-range, I throw a flake of alfalfa in their coop and they looove to scratch it all apart and eat the green leaves

Good for them, too!

 

[dtimms]

Quote:
Sure, I should be able to get hay. This is yet another great idea! I bet it would take them a while!

I've been doing the veggie peelings, they do rush me when I open the door to toss them into the run. My toddler is the best chicken-wrangler of us all, because they know he's always got Cheerios so they flock around him like a rock star!

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

I throw in some wheat, bugs, grass clippings, fruit or veggies that are past what we will be using, extra worms left after fishing or collecting them around the yard, leftovers within reason, etc.
Their favorites are toads, which they all play football with until they are expired and the chicken have eaten them, and frozen corn on the cob on a hot day. Hubby calls them a redneck name ( in a Bill Engvall voice, like when he talks about the dorkfish/corndogs )...Corn Popsicles!

 

[lostsoulhelpmejebus]

Oh, I almost forgot...those huge zucchini that get to be like baseball bats? I split them into halves, they keep eating them down to where there is just a bit of outer skin left...the bigger they are the longer it takes to eat them!

 

[sben451]

Hang a cabbage in their coop. You can drill a hole through the stem part of the cabbage and run a string through it. Also give them your kitchen scraps--veggie peels, apple peels and cores, melon rinds, cantaloupe rinds, etc.

 

[Britcheflee]

My father in law came up with hanging a corn cob (with corn on it) in the coop - they peck away at it and it swings around like a boxing punch bag so keeps them on their toes!!!

Lee

 

[StacyK]

Quote:
Great idea! Our neighbor has a corn stand, so lots of extra corn right now! I've been throwing a cob in & they love it. A little more entertainment for all would be fun

 

[sugar pants]

The hanging corn and cabbage is a great idea.

We also picked up a few hanging treat cages from the pet store. One is a ball with larger openings, one a square with smaller (so it keeps smaller things in better).

We'll put treats in there so they don't get all sandy and to vary up the routine a little. The ball has a little bell on the bottom and sometimes they even like to peck at the bell when there are no treats in it.

 

[cmom]

I go through my gardens and pick the vegies I won't sell and give them to my birds. I also buy bales of alfalfa and toss some in with them. They love it.