Chicken environmental enrichment?

[RedStarDaddy]

This may be an off-the-wall question but I'm going to ask anyway.

I have had parakeets and have seriously considered acquiring Amazon parrots, Macaws, and Conures in the past. The one common factor among all the psittascines I have kept and those I have encountered has been their love of toys to shred and swing from and to bat around. Does anybody know if chickens would get as much enjoyment from appropriate toys as a parrot does? Obviously a chicken can't very well pick up a piece of cholla wood and rip it apart to get the pecans stashed inside it, but she could certainly boot a hollowed-out rigid plastic ball around if she was stuck inside because Poppa thinks she needs to learn to lay eggs someplace other than in the machine shed.

RSD

 

[wombat]

We hang an apple or a cabbage on a cord for them.

They also like to free-range, and if they're doing this, they don't need toys.

 

[RedStarDaddy]

They're only temporarily on restriction until they figure out that a nice clean nest box is a better place to lay than the machine shed is.

Do you poke a hole through the center of the apple to hang it?

RSD

 

[Uppity Peon]

I have built a structure for them to hide in and perch on. I got some parts of a bunkbed/futon that was being junked, and I recently added something my neighbor's exDH had built that was headed for the burnpile.

The hens love their "jungle-gym". They run into it or perch up on it when they are trying to avoid the roosters. It's like "base" - a place where they can be left alone. And the roosters enjoy perching on it too.

 

[RedStarDaddy]

A jungle fowl gym. What an idea. Now I need to see what I can come up with.

Thanks, UP.

RSD

 

[saddina]

Hubby put various cardboard tubes in the brooder for the chicks to play with, we had some chuckles over "chicken preschool" watching.

 

[patandchickens]

Chickens' favorite occupation is foraging, so honestly I think that the single best thing you can do is scatter some scratch very thinly across the litter -- all the better if you do this outdoors in a run with a straw or compost floor, cuz the scratch is harder for them to find

They do like pecking (e.g. at lettuce or cabbage) and hopping up to perch on things to look at the world from different angles... but not nearly as much as they like pokin' around for food.

Pat

 

[Angelbear]

I was told to hang some "treats" like apple, cabbage etc above their head heights because apart from enrichment it also makes them stretch their necks. I hope I have done the right thing.

 

[newchickmom]

Can we see some pics? I would like some ideas also.

 

[ecocheapomom]

I am so happy to see this post as I was just about to post about the same thing. We have come to the difficult decision that it is better for our ladies to stay in the run. They LOVE to free range around the yard so I hate to keep them penned up, but it seems the best option. The run is plenty big (8x16 for 8 hens) so I know they will be fine, but I still feel guilty. We made the decision for two reasons - multiple fox sightings and also that we are having some costly landscaping done that they seem ehllbent on destroying. In addition, it is a bit upsetting to walk out onto our brand new front porch and prisitne driveway just to have them covered in poop. They were even going in the garage and pooping on my car!
So now that they are in the run I want to make it as enjoyable for them as possible. They get alot of treats and I have a suet feeder that I fill. I think I like the jungle gym idea. They even like the large rocks that I have put in there. Now I wonder if they would like an igloo this winter....?