How to Keep Chickens From being Bored

[acemario]

These are all such great ideas. I'm going to put up a "swing" in my run tonight. My girls started a hole in their run when they started taking dust baths. It was just a little hole. So I dug it out a little wider to accommodate a couple of ladies at a time--kind of like a hot tub for dust; a dust tub. I put some chunks of firewood around it for a border, and I re-fill the "dust-tub" with the dirt from the mole hills around our place (mix some food grade DE with it). They love it, and it's hilarious to watch them. I would never have believed their feathers could hold SO MUCH dirt! I have more fun entertaining them.

HAHA! A Dust tub! Love it!

 

[K9Flier]

...depends on how stiff it is

That's what I was thinking. Too funny.

My friend with the chickens husband said if I see my hens scratching algebraic equations then that means they are bored! LOL!!!

 

[7 Biddies]

...depends on how stiff it is

After reading the "Things I Never Thought I'd Say Until I Got Chickens" thread, I'm not touching this one with a ten foot pole.

 

[outdoorsii]

Mine have a few things in their run which they seem to like.

1. Old Tree Stump........they love pecking it to find insects in the wood, and they also like climbing all over it. Sometimes they like to rest under it for shade.

2. Area of sand.............they like to dust bath in it and scratch about.

3. Old wooden crate...........they love to fly up onto the top...particularly the roosters!

4. An area of grass...........like to peck at it.

5. They love it after it has stopped raining to paddle in the puddles and scratch about in them!

6. You can hang up a whole cabbage for them to peck at.

Definately good idea...we hung up some grass & cabbage to peck at, I've heard of people tying CD's up in the trees or towards the top of their coop if it can catch the sunlight...it kinda makes them stare at it lol like putting them into a trance LOL....try that

 

[Jasperina]

Today I put a medium-sized dog kennel into the run, the kind with the handle for carrying. All morning the chickens have been going in and out of it, pecking at the bottom of it, and seeming generally very entertained by it. It was just happenstance that I put it in there, I was releasing another hen back into the run. I think I'll just put it back in there from time to time since they seem to be so interested in it.

 

[rosieswado]

i put meal worms in her nesting straw and mix them in so she has to scratch to find them

 

[coloradocoop]

Yesterday I took a pitchfork and turned over a large area of the dirt in our chicken run. A mass earthworm feast ensued, followed by a dust bathing frenzy--all seven girls bathing at once. The chickens were having the time of their lives and we were entertained for hours.

We also started a chicken compost pile and the girls love it!

 

[LovelyBantam]

Thanks everyone you certainly gave me a lot to work with. It even made the BYC Homepage.

 

[PuffyChick]

What's the difference between a chicken compost pile and a regular one?

 

[SweetSilver]

Treats are nice. Old corn cobs, cantaloupe innards for the full-grown hens. Leftover spaghetti, red cabbage cut in slivers. A fresh sprinkling of the neighbor's hay. Sunflower seeds in the winter. Yes, they love tomatoes.

We had an elderberry tree in our old coop (and soon in our new one) and it was hilarious to see them leap to great heights flapping their wings to get at them. We'd toss in a few from the higher branches. Goumi bush--same thing. Fence off the young plants, because chickens love elderberry leaves just as much as our local deer.

Old stumps, yes. We are learning what good tillers they are in their new day pen-- lots of stumps to dig around, jump up on, hide behind.

Places high (well, not too high) and low. A bale of hay or straw for them to hop up on or hide behind (we have a scaredy pullet right now and I'm learning about the need for hiding places.) They like little perches in the sun where they can groom themselves. A little tree if you are not concerned about them getting out or daytime predators getting in. (We use a deep litter mulch "system". A bare yard might just kill trees and shrubs planted there.) I feel sorry for flocks stuck in bare, level, featureless yards. Even just sticking in a few pots of bamboo in the middle and an extra perch or two is enough to provide a bit of interest.

In our new, larger day pen we've put in an extra covered spot that we layed hay under, a second waterer next to. Good for sudden rains, predators, shade, and jumping on top of.

If you have enough space, divide it and rotate. They will be thrilled for days and days.

Pulling back the old mulch to harvest is worm-hunting time. We once had a hen (it makes me want to cry to say that) who spent so much time pecking and getting angry at the others for eating "her" worms that she hardly ever actually ate the worms.

The girls (the human kind) would like shelling old, starchy peas to hand feed them.