Junglegym for chickens?

[ManyQuestions]

Hey all,

Is there such a thing as a *wanting a better word* 'playground' for chickens?
I mean, dogs have thier chew bones, go on walks and lead an almost adventurous life.
Cats have their scratching posts, which can in some cases look like mini apartments.
Birds have their swings and toys.
The list goes on from hamsters with their rolling balls to fish an their caves and plants.

What do chickens like to do, aside from bury their beaks in the dirt?

For goodness sake, even parrots have swings and junglegym type things in their cages.

Any suggestions?

 

[QuackerOats]

Very good question! While I'm not really sure how to answer, I know chickens go crazy with some foods. Maybe they like to eat?

 

[emys]

Some basic ideas:

They like to dust themselves, so put in a wading pool with 1/2 sand and half peat moss. Poke holes in bottom if you get lots of rain, or try to locate out of rain.

They like to be up high, so put in a chicken ladder to a high perch outside - make it big enough for several chickens.

They need to file down their toenails and beaks, so you could install a small rubble hill out of pieces of free concrete. They will also climb on this if made large enough.

 

[Portia]

Mine free range in our yard & woods & love a pile of leaves to scratch around in. Their other love is some bare, scratchable dirt in the sun for dusting.

 

[crittersitter]

I have some tree stumps in the run that they love to peck at and hop around on. i also hang a suet feeder with treats.

 

[RobbingPeter]

I refer to it as "Chicken Enrichment" when I am looking at other people's pages for ideas.

One that I have seen that looks fun is building a frame out of 2 x 4's and putting hardware cloth across one side. You put the frame on the ground - wire side up - and plant wheat grass under it. That way the greenery can grow up through the wire and they can eat it - but they cannot get at the roots to kill it.

I am planning on putting something like that in my run.

Currently all my chicks are in the brooder and I have put an old bird toy in there (I used to have 'tiels, finches, parakeets & canaries) they peck at it and toss it around. I have been thinking about just giving the chickens toys designed for large companion birds and seeing what they do with them.

They love pecking at my wedding ring - so I am guessing that a big silver bell would be a big hit.

 

[En Plein Air Farms]

I've been working on toys for the girls, if you click on the KalamaQuilts link there is some probably not very necessary but fun details re: my latest efforts. The girls LOVE them.

I put my flock block in a plastic milk crate so they'd have to jump and work for their bits, but they really jumped and set on the top and snacked

That was ok, they seem to enjoy swinging on the crate too.

Next project is a hanger with a head of cabbage or lettuce on it.

If you dump out their dirty water in a portion of the play pen they will occupy themselves for quite awhile looking for grubs and worms in the damp soil

 

[Backyard Hencam]

We have a ladder in our coop that the hens get up on every morning. You can see it at the website below. We also keep a bale of alfalfa for them to pick at and get up on.

 

[Chicky Mama]

I've been thinking on these lines as well...play instead of pecking eachother. Our Poultry leader suggested bird toys for some I had in recovery pens.I've seen one page here that made a tire perch or swing,his birds were happy.it was 3 long sticks tepee style tire around the middle. I was thinging of doing a tire swing, I see big 'ol piles at the tire shop in town and bike tires seemed to flimsy without a tube. My brother made a chicken jungle gym last year that was quite enjoyed on warm summer nights. Another idea is using the open hanging silver ball for rabbits-ferrets with veggies stuffed in it or hang a head of cabbage or lettuce. Just gotta get creative, never know what mite be around the house to rig up. I wonder if they'd like mirrors?

 

[gryeyes]

Tether Cabbage!

Since I am doing this regularly now, I simply put a shepherd's hook in the ground in the run. You know, the ones used for hanging plants. I have a double hook, with a nice copper, smiling sun's face above the hooks. This also helps to hold up the bird netting I have strung across the run.

And here's what remains the morning after I place the cabbage.

I also have a chunk o' tree branch in the run, for them to perch on or scratch around looking for bugs.