Official BYC Poll: How Do You Spoil Your Flock the Most?

[BYC Project Manager]

We all have our weaknesses—and sometimes, it’s fluffy, feathery, clucking ones! Whether you’ve turned your coop into a luxury suite or hand-feed gourmet snacks, we want to know: How do YOU pamper your poultry most often?

Pick one or more that fit you best (even if you’re guilty of doing them all ):

Share Your Cluckin’ Habits!​

Tell us in the replies if you’re a treat queen, lap chicken whisperer, or coop designer extraordinaire. No judgment here—just a bunch of chicken lovers embracing the fluff life.

Further Reading:

• Chicken Treat Chart: The Best Treats for Backyard Chickens
• Top 8 "Special" Chicken Treats
• Feeding Treats to Chickens in Moderation: What You Need to Know
• 16 Healthy Chicken Treats
• Treats for chicks

(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I let mine free range all day, and they get some scratch in the morning. They seem pretty happy running around, and can choose what they want to do each day.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Food, water and secure shelter. I ain't runnin' Chic Chicken Resort.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Lots of room in the run, in the coop, on the roosts, and in the nests. Multiple feed and water stations. As much as I can while managing predators I let them be chickens.

 

[SkyAJK]

I used to spoil my flock with home cook treat, varieties of green vegs, and some other naughty treat like pasta, and too much black soldier fly...used to.

I stopped now, they get green leafly, foraging and some black soldier fly so that they eat their feed mostly which is what their body needed so it reduces ill health & egg issues.

 

[thecatumbrella]

It's embarrassing how many things I checked. I don't treat them nearly as much as they'd like. Like @SkyAJK, I really need them to eat their feed. They're horrible feeder eaters. I do have a chicken speaker with relaxing music that I'll bring out once the summer fan is packed away (that thing is LOUD), and we have a bench in the run for us to sit together. This flock doesn't like cuddles, per se, but they love when we visit and spend time together.

 

[SkyAJK]

It's embarrassing how many things I checked. I don't treat them nearly as much as they'd like. Like @SkyAJK, I really need them to eat their feed. They're horrible feeder eaters. I do have a chicken speaker with relaxing music that I'll bring out once the summer fan is packed away (that thing is LOUD), and we have a bench in the run for us to sit together. This flock doesn't like cuddles, per se, but they love when we visit and spend time together.

Lucky chickens have relax music

It is very hard to not give them treat as you noticed. They come looking at your hands, those cute big round eyes..where are those treats? A disappointment walk away......how could I deny them?

I often think about their egg laying daily, what their bodies need to make those eggs, and here is winter cold as well, the body need proper nutrition. I sprout grains for morning treat, just a handful of it, then green leafy in the afternoon. Before bed time I let them out with their unfinished feed to finish off and no treat.

Also those feed they don't finish is wasted and money burn away.

 

[MapleLaurelFarms]

I'm fairly hands off and just let them be chickens. They free range during the day with a very roomy, protected coop and run at night or when they can't be out. They also get garden scraps, high quality feed plus mealworms (which is how I train them to come in from the field when called), plus lots of good clean sunshine and water. I also keep a fairly clean coop. Yep they're spoiled, but no chicken cuddles from me! Mine would likely freak out lol.

 

[RubelliteRose]

Up until recently when a hawk moved in next door, my flock was allowed to free range most of the day. Now they must be content with talks and lap time. If I sit when I first enter the run, Torchic, who is of course my favorite, will usually run up and jump on my lap. If I start cleaning the small elevated coop first, she will march up the ramp, stand in front of me and rub her beak on my arm until I pick her up and sit for lap time. Often, several of the other hens will also join us for together time