Fun for Chickens???

[Guitartists]

Ok, so I promised my daughter that I would find out.

She asked me if there were any "extra" things we could get for the chickens. I tried explaining to her that they are commonly thought of as farm animals and they don't make a line of "chicken" toys

But, I thought it was worth asking. Does anyone here know of any "toys" that chickens will play with? You always see a whole line of toys for parakeets and parrots. Will chickens even play games? I know they are curious by nature. Has anyone ever tried buying bird toys for them or fashioned their own?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Good question - entertained chickens are less likely to peck and find trouble! Here's some people's comments from another thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36961

 

[kcfuerst]

I use a squirrel feeder to entertain. It holds one cob of corn, or a bird seed treat from the pet store, or I can stuff it full of greens. They play with it for a long time while jumping to get the goodies.

 

[fowltemptress]

The best "toy" for a chicken is hard to reach food, whether it's just outside their pen or hanging high enough they have to jump for it. oh . . . and a nice fresh cow pie does nicely, too, it's just oodles of fun to scratch in! The nice thing about chickens is their entertainment is cheap (among other things, of course!

)

 

[Guitartists]

I'll have to see what I can come up with...though, cow pies are OUT!

 

[fowltemptress]

Ahh . . . my dogs and birds LOVE it. I can't blame you, though. If My guys didn't look so happy rolling around in it, I'd try and stop 'em.

 

[Guitartists]

Thanx for the link Buff Hooligans....... lots to consider

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

One of my favorite things are those bird feeder "bells" that you can hang. They are a few dollars and I hang them with a long piece of string from the roof of the coop or run. It's difficult for the birds to peck at it when it swings!

 

[hooligan]

My fellas love the bird seed bells. And the hanging mirrors used for caged birds, Bob loved to play with the bell on one when he was in the house.
Hanging food, like melons etc are fun for them. They usually love to try and inspect new things and any kind of melons are a big hit here. Worms hand fed or just tossed to the ground are goos as well.
Since you are planning on keeping your chicken in the house you could get a rubbermade tub and add some soil and just toss a few worms on top and let her scratch around and chow down. Plus she could get a nice dirt bath in!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

My birds also love when I take a scoopful of decomposed manure filled with lots of worms and dump it in their pen. They take a while to scratch trough it all to eat up all the little worms!