Entertainment for chickens

[Clarebaxter]

I was thinking of getting a bale of hay for my girls to dig around in. I was wondering what people think? I want to enrich their days without resorting to treats all the time. They free range in my side yard during the day. Also what do you think about setting up a compost for their waste within their yard? If I add food scrapes and they scatch around in would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

I have another compost pile but use that for yard clipping as the dogs have access to it and I don't want to add the chicken manure as I think my dogs will snack on it.

Thanks!


Clare

 

[PolkaDot77]

I compost all my chicken bedding, along with food scraps, lawn clippings, etc. and have never had a problem with the chickens pecking through it. They usually poo all around the yard though, and I don't add that to the compost so there's not too much poo in there. My chickens love pecking through a bale of hay or I have also thrown a little scratch in my raised beds and then covered them with leaves for the winter and my chickies LOVE pecking through that as well. There are homemade flock blocks that you can make that are more actual food based and less straight treats as well. Good luck! Let us know what you decide to do for entertainment.

 

[LRH97]

My chickens LOVE to spread things out. We had a bale of straw in the barn that we had cut the wire so it was loose. It was a bale when I left it, but when I came back, there was a very large pile of straw all spread out on the floor. Turns out that my dad left the door open and the chickens got in and had a little fun. I clean the coop and put all the straw and manure and stuff in a neat pile on the side of the coop. When I come back, that neat little pile is nothing more than a bunch of stuff all over the ground. They seem to be pretty entertained by that sort of thing!

 

[Clarebaxter]

Tomorrow I am going to get them a bale of hay, this weekend build a three sided compost box in their yard and we will see how it goes!

 

[Mahlzeit]

My grandfather had a dairy farm and had a big three sided compost bin in with the chickens he would throw everything in. They loved coming out for the day and digging through it eating all the good scraps and bugs.

 

[Jo Anne]

Same thing happened to me with the bale of straw I bought to put in their nesting box and tractor to help keep them warm. I asked my husband what happen, then he told me the girls spread the straw all around. Great fun