Post your favorite boredom busters and such for your chicken run/enclosed yard

[TooCheep]

I just put 20 wheelbarrows worth of wood chips/leaves/etc in my mini-orchard. I left them in piles.

Chicken paradise!

Do you have any issues with them pecking fruit in the orchard?

Nah. That is actually the least problem with my free-ranging hens. I have 3 areas where I grow food in my backyard:

• Mini-orchard (6 small fruit trees)- my girls are heavier breeds. They don't get up into the fruit trees and cause problems. The area underneath is all wood chips which break down over time producing nice organic soil. It provides shade, cover from hawks and the girls like to dig around and dust bath in the soil.
• Raised beds (with 3' metal fencing)- The girls grab anything they can- cucumber leaves, lettuce and kale seem to be their favorites. I'm okay with sharing some.
• Berry plants- This has historically been where the girls give me the most grief- eating various of my berries. This year, the goumi and mulberries (my lowest priority berries) are producing so much they seem to be distracting both the chickens and wild birds from my raspberries and blackberries, so I'm having very little losses on my more valued berries while the girls have fun foraging.

 

[kittyvamp1884]

We buried an old fire pit (with a trash can lid to line it) in the run as a dust bath. Our ladies free range, but they'll spend hours in the run bathing, napping, and bathing some more in that pit.

Video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CNEnTjmjJn6gGbCb7

 

[luckycluk]

Oh yeah! We use a combination of food grade diatomaceous earth, fireplace ashes, and garden dirt to make up their dust bath. They love it!

Thank you, I’m going to have burn plain wood in our outside fire “pit” because we use the “logs” that we by in the store and I’m not sure what they have in them.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Post your favorite boredom busters and things that you do/add to your chicken run to keep your chickens entertained! Lots of people don’t free range for many reasons, so here we can get some ideas on keeping chickens entertained in a run/enclosed yard set up! I don’t free range due to way too many daytime predators which include hawks, coyotes, dogs, stray cats (I have tiny bantams too), and the road.

My favorite boredom busters are lots of roosts of varying heights made from branches, decorations/furniture to play on, mulch in the run (all kinds of organic materials such as straw, leaves, & wood chips), and large shrubs and fruit trees pruned to 6ft. Go ahead and post your favorite boredom busters, and include pictures too!

Frozen fruit and veggies in the summer!

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Mine is definitely new organic materials in the run! I'm still working through last fall's leaves so around once a week they get a trash can full of new material to scratch, peck, and sort through. I also just bought them a bale of alfalfa to provide tasty green leaves for eating and hardy stems for scratching around. Side note: I found out my feed store will let me sweep up the loose hay on the ground for free, so no more buying hay for them!

Also, rearranging the furniture always gets them all excited. Move their favorite perch or fill in their favorite hole (always right in front of the door) and suddenly they have to rethink their whole lives!

Yes, one of my favorites too! I didn't think about alfalfa bales! I have to look into that! That's also a great tip about the feed store!!

 

[HenHouse Henry]

I hang a cabbage on a rope and they peck the hell out of it. I have a chicken tunnel that connects the main coop to another area that has a tire with sand and DE to take a dust bath. Also, another area has a bunch of logs and branches at different heights. I also grow oregano and chives all along the outside of the runs and coop.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

We buried an old fire pit (with a trash can lid to line it) in the run as a dust bath. Our ladies free range, but they'll spend hours in the run bathing, napping, and bathing some more in that pit.

I use two old tires as dust baths that the chickens love to bathe in! They will fall asleep dustbathing in the sun!

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

A good dust bath area is one of the best things you can do for chickens. Not only beneficial for minimizing bug/mite problems, but it is "spa time" for chickens.

Totally! Mine all love to use their tires as dust baths, or they like to take some under the shade of the coop in the summer where their misters are!

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Someone told me grapes are not good to feed chickens? I think frozen grapes would be great If they are ok to feed them

They are good for chickens, just not too many since they are higher in sugar. Mine only get it as a treat, and not every day so it's perfectly fine! Grapes have a high water content so its good hydration for summer, but like watermelon and other high water content fruits, too much can cause runny poops.

 

[3KillerBs]

They are still a bit terrified of giant piles but once the gears start turning in their noggins they dig right in.

At this point mine are so eager to get started scratching that they run underfoot while I'm forking in the new bedding.