Do chickens play with toys?

[Triciakins]

We recently discovered ours like to chase a laser light. Out of 7 only 1 was acctually terrified of it so we stopped. The others loved it though.

 

[Mominator4]

I have 6 chicks that are about 7 weeks old. My husband cut a 2 foot piece of alder in half lengthwise and pût eye bolts in it to make a swing. The girls love hopping onto the swing and enjoy swaying back and forth in the breeze. I love watching them play.

 

[countryladyNH]

We found this adorable tiny chicken-size toy piano online for $12. Hubby just mounted it on a sturdy little base. We plan to put in in the corner of our coop for the hens, to combat winter boredom here in NH.
Has anyone gotten a toy piano for their chickens? It's vintage and the keys all work so I don't want to put corn on them and risk it 'gumming up' the works. Does anyone have any tips for training the hens to use it??

 

[lazy gardener]

Use a red laundry marker to mark the white keys.

 

[Jiffyrocks]

Saw this and thought of this post

 

[LadyVictorian]

My chickens really love cat toys. They love the plastic cat balls with the jingle bells, they love the feather on the string and chase after it, and they LOVE those plastic mice with the rattles inside them. We covered a few with hemp cord and hemp cord tails and they chase each other around them pen for them. They seem to like their bird swing too I get from the petstore for parrots and a few other bird toys like mirrors they chirp at and try to start fights with. Lots of bells, my chickens love the bells though.

 

[Scooterbing]

Is it ok to give these toys to the hens to play with...plastic with bell and other is metal with rattle mouse

 

[HelenWxW]

It's really strange for me to have an animal who doesn't really seem to 'play.' Every pet I have ever owned did some sort of play. Horses, goats, dogs, cats, parakeets.... etc.. So, do you consider chickens 'playful'?

So I recently hatched 27 chicks, from whom were 5 silkies (I guess they were mixed because their parents had more feathers than fluff, I collected the eggs around from the village and friends, it's like collecting treasure ). 3 out of 5 hatched silkies were really weak so I put 2 weakest into separate box. 1 unfortunately passed away, I was expecting it since it had smaller head and damaged vision but I was still sad. So I was left with one weak silkie and I was soo sad watching him growing his first feathers alone in the box that I gave him a new playtoy- a plushie kitten. He did pinch it now and there and lay next to it but he was still lonely.

I decided to give him the 3rd weak silkie after I made sure they were both healthy and won't make each other sick. Now, there is 2 of them in the box with the plushie cat. They are soo Happy and playing with it. Chirping around the cat and trying to understand how it works by climbing on it and touching it or even sleeping next to it.

I am generally surprised and relieved because I never thought that chickens can be this playful and happy around the plushie toys.


They are both 9 days old.

 

[Altairsky]

Chickens don't play, but they seek entertainment when they are bored, and they get bored a lot if they are confined and can't free range.
My chickens free range and they never play with anything. However they discovered a large mirror that I brought in the garage to later throw in the trash truck, and looking at the amount of poop in front of it, looks like they spent quite some time looking at themselves.

 

[HelenWxW]

That is fine, as long as they are happy and progressing with happy chirps I am not bothered that much.

They do love mirrors tho and snuggle to warm places (plushies next to heat source) because it's their instinct.

Try putting a cabbage in a net and hanging it somewhere around chickens, they will have some fun, "play".