How to keep chickens entertained in a run....

[fasschicks]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep hens entertained while being in a run (mine is all sand - 15x7 for 6 birds)? I am afraid with having them in a sand run all day/every day they will get bored and not do a lot of pecking/digging (or at least not find anything to eat besides their feed). They will be pretty much confined to their coop (6x7) and sand run (7x15). On the weekends, I will try to get them to range in a movable penned area, but during the week (especially winter), they will be in the coop/run most of the week.

Would love to hear all of your ideas - even if they are quirky. I would love to make their life as enjoyable/entertaining as I can.

Fass

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Here's a few ideas:

Put veggie scraps in a suet cage and hang it.

Hang a whole cabbage (like a tether ball).

Get a seed block.

This is a great time for pumpkins. Cut one in half and they will clean it out, gooey stuff, seeds and all.

 

[jimmywalt]

Mine are cooped just like yours............

I throw in grass clippings (they eat and pick through a lot of it), large amounts of leaves (to pick through), vegetables (corn on the cobb), breads/buns to pick at and eat, straw to fluff up, kick around, and eat the seeds that are within it.

 

[donrae]

Toss scratch or regular feed in the run. They'll spend lots of time scratching through the sand for the feed.

I don't think it will work with your sand, but in my run I keep pieces of plywood laying on the ground. Every so often I flip them over and let the flock enjoy the buggy goodness that's developed underneath.

folks here have also drilled small holes in 2 liter bottles and filled with feed or scratch, let the birds chase the bottle around and eat the feed that comes out.

Large veggies they have to peck at a lot are also good--cabbage is a classic. Winter squash, melons, pumpkins, things like that. Even apples. don't chop any of these up, the idea is to let them peck at them.