chicken playground

[Chicken Lover 1]

i have a patch in my big chicken run that i want to put some kind of fun thing in for my chickens . besides dust baths what could i put there the space is like10'' by 20''

 

[gstuartw]

We tried the same thing with ours and put a swing and a tube in there and they ignored it.

 

[kborges]

My husband built this for our chickens. They love it! It's kinda hard to see but it's a huge triangle type perch....

 

[hopp2it]

I told DH this weekend we should put some corn cob holders in there on an old flag pole or in a windmill pattern so they have something to work at.

 

[Stumpy]

I hang a piece of corn on a chain. It keeps them busy for a while.

 

[ChickyT]

I've been thinking about doing a few things like this too. It would be fun to see what other people have done to get some ideas...

 

[KristinLLB]

A friend of mine who works at a zoo gave me this idea for chicken "enrichment" (that's the word the pros use for anything you do to mentally stimulate or entertain the animals).

Take an empty oatmeal canister (the cardboard kind) and poke some small holes in it -- big enough for whatever bug you put in to get out. Then fill with live crickets or mealworms. As the bugs come out, the chickens chase!

But then she told me that I couldn't do it because my chickens have been de-beaked (they are rescues) and might not kill them before they eat them, and anything that gets eaten live with "mouth parts' might chew its way out of the crop! AAAGGGHHHH!

But I was fascinated with this idea.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I put a circle-shaped water sprinkler in one corner of the run on low. One girl stands right in it. The others like scratching in the puddles that are nearby.

 

[jak2002003]

Mine love to climb and jump off things.

I have an old small table and wooden chair in their run. They love that! I also have a large tree root log thing from a tree we had cut down. They love climbing on that and sit on top to preen themselves and sunbath. They also like pecking all the rotten wood and eating the insects they find in it.

They really like the little puddle of water under the tap of the hose. They love paddling and scratching about in it - and drinking the dirty water instead of from their clean water tub!!!!!

They make their own dust baths - or rather dust craters!

Sometimes I hang up a cabbage or some other vegetable by a string. They love pecking it to bits.