How to Keep Chickens From being Bored

[Karen67]

I am building a swing in my coop as my girls had one at the breeders and loved it

 

[acemario]

We put our lawn clippings in their coop. They love searching through and rearranging the grass!

 

[terryg]

I have a compost pile in my chicken run. It gives the hens something to work at and do all day long. At the same time, the rest of the coop and run area stay tidy and clean. I have photos and an explanation of what I put in it here:
http://hencam.com/faq/compost-in-the-chicken-run/

 

[JNorth]

I would love to see pics of the swing! I think my daughter would love making one of those for our flock.

 

[sdmotherhen]

Lately with the hot weather we've had, I have taken to freezing corn on the cob(with the husks on). I peel the husks down and put a couple of cobs in the chicken yard. They love the cold corn and it doesn't take long until the cobs are cleaned. I also pick some longer stalks of grass with the seeds forming and put them in they yard for them to scratch in and munch on. we also made a chicken "salad bar". It is a 4'x6' frame with good composted soil in it. We planted buckwheat, sorghum and oats and put a cover frame made of chicken wire over it. When the plants started growing the chickens showed a lot of interest. When the plants were grown up to the chicken wire, they walk in the cover frame and eat the greens without digging up the entire garden.

 

[jak2002003]

How long can you leave the cabbage out there?

All day! Throw what is left away at the end of the day when you put your chickens in for the night.

I just use string to tie it up. I would not use metal baskets or things like that as there is a small risk that a chicken might fly up onto it and catch its leg or wing. This happened to one of my doves when I had a metal hanging basket in their aviary for them to nest in.

 

[acemario]

We also hang broccoli and cauliflower from the top of the coop. This keeps them entertained and gives them a nice workout as they jump to eat the veggies! (They also last longer than 5 minutes!)

 

[LovelyBantam]

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Reyort]

Mine love to scratch around my oak tree. When I open their run they make a mad dash for it. I let them at it for a couple of hours then they are ready to go back in.

 

[Darklingstorm]

Frozen blocks of veggies.
Since its pretty hot here and I have my own garden, I take veggies that are on the way out or gone to seed, cut them up into chunks, add water and freeze. Then during the hottest part of the day I take it out and give it to them. They love it. Not only do they get cold fresh water but cold veggies to snack on too.

One treat I didn't expect was when I let them out to free range the yard and they found a tomato plant that was still producing and they would jump up to get the juiciest ones. Don't tell my hubby but after watching them, I left the ripe ones on that one plant just for them.