Great new chicken toy!

[kichohana]

Love the chicken toy idea! I will have to try this to keep mu girls from getting too bored.

 

[Bulldogma]

I think this is awesome! I hope you don't mind, but I linked to this thread in the "Chickinvention" thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...at-inventions-have-you-come-up-with-pic-heavy

 

[baileybrood]

Thank you for the compliment. I'll pass it on to the girls. They are a mixed flock of Speckled Sussex and Silver-laced Wyandottes, pictured here with a couple of my Ameraucanas, or Easter-eggers. I also have two kinds of Brahmas and a Cochin.

The floor of the run is sand. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's easy to keep clean with a cat litter scooper, and the hens as well as the rooster all love to dirt bathe in it. On hot days I wet the sand down, and the evaporation cools the air down a good ten degrees, and the chickens love to hunker down in the cool wetness.

Great idea on the bottle feeder (entertainer). I have something similar for a puppy

Did you use builder's sand in your run? Mine is now completely dirt (new run) and I've been throwing down shavings but it can get messy and hard to clean. I took a round, black plastic pond basin and filled it with Bio-Comp (fast draining soil particles) mixture for them to roll around in. They really enjoy it! I may replace it with sand though.

We're also just getting ready to put a solid roof on the run. We looked into the plastic corrugated panels (like in your picture). Have you been happy with it?

 

[azygous]

Yes, builder's sand in the run, easy to keep clean with a cat box scooper. And, yes, corrugated panels to cover the pen have worked out wonderfully. The only negative is that, unless they are liberally screwed down, they rattle something awful in high winds.

I've been using the bottles every day now. The flock has been getting their grain ration in this manner, relieving me of trying to get out there to toss it in the afternoon before they get mutinous.

 

[Dutchess]

oops, I meant to quote... I thought it was funny that the chickens knew that weren't getting their scratch! Nice try!

 

[baileybrood]

I just bought one of these feeders. While its technically just a feeder, I think it will keep them entertained!

 

[yo burrill]

Love that feeder Baileybrood!!!!

 

[Banriona]

I just bought one of these feeders. While its technically just a feeder, I think it will keep them entertained!

Love that feeder idea!! How's it been working out for you?

 

[cjpines]

Trying to come up with something to entertain the flock since they're confined to the run due to predators and my vulnerable garden, I came up with this little gem.

I drilled quarter-inch holes in an empty plastic Gator-aid bottle, any plastic soda bottle will do, and filled it with scratch grain. The grain slowly dribbles out as they peck and scratch at the bottle, rolling it all over the pen. It keeps them absorbed all day. And it's completely safe.

I'm wondering how they get anything out of the bottle.

 

[tridentk9]

It would be very easy to change this to a chicken toy. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10203350977628488&id=1032474638