Run Activities

[CKfarm22]

I do deep litter in my run and the chickens spend all day scratching around the floor finding different things hiding in there. They love when I add new piles of leaves, pine needles, mulch, etc. Deep litter consists of all kinds of organic material such as wood chips, straw, pine needles, leaves, chopped up branches from tree pruning, stuff from the garden, etc. They love their dust baths I have for them or if it's hot they dust bathe under the shade of the coop. I give them roosts in the run at different heights. I have an area with a bunch of branches I call the chicken jungle gym. I also have plants and fruit trees in the run that they like to hang around for shade and shelter.

Heres an example of a 'chicken tree' I made for them. It's made from cottonwood and manzanita branches.
View attachment 3234446

I see those plants in the back! What kind are those???

 

[CKfarm22]

Large pots of chicken sage herbs to pick through. My girls love dill. I have to rotate pots out so they don’t totally kill the plants, though.

I was thinking about doing this around the coop so if they want they can pick at it through the chicken wire! What are some other herbs they might like?

 

[CKfarm22]

Based on what they choose when they have lots of choices: usually the dirt from under the plant in your landscaping or garden that you prize the most. Or the bare spot in the lawn that you were hoping would fill in.

I used to think it needed to be sand to be a little scratchy to take care of parasites and work dander out. I think that is wrong because of this article on why chickens bath in dust not water

Anyway, sand is okay. So is just plain dirt. Or clean wood ashes. Or bits of dry leaves or sphagnum moss. Or any combination of those or other things.

Mine enjoy some water in it at least sometimes. But mine is inside a well ventilated coop and is extremely dry if I don't.

Like the playground sand you can find at home depot?

 

[alinas2010]

I was thinking about doing this around the coop so if they want they can pick at it through the chicken wire! What are some other herbs they might like?

Some peoples’ chickens like basil, but mine hate it! That being said, they’ll still fiddle with it in a pot. They’re okay with parsley and thyme, though. I think they like the idea of trying to wrestle with the plants more than actually eating the stuff

 

[CKfarm22]

Some peoples’ chickens like basil, but mine hate it! That being said, they’ll still fiddle with it in a pot. They’re okay with parsley and thyme, though. I think they like the idea of trying to wrestle with the plants more than actually eating the stuff

Haha sounds like my chickens

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

I see those plants in the back! What kind are those???

Those are big sagebrush. A native found all over the property that I transplanted into the run. I find plants in the sage family do really well around chickens. I also have hummingbird sage, compact texas sage, and a mexican bush sage. I have a thread that shows all of the plants that I have in my run that do really well! https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ni-forest-for-chickens.1540569/#post-25995349

 

[saysfaa]

Like the playground sand you can find at home depot?

I used that last winter because I couldn't shovel any up from the ground. It worked well too. Or maybe it was all purpose sand, I don't remember.

Just be careful to get sand by itself, not sand topping mix; that has cement mixed with it. I'm not sure if there are other names for that.