Run Enrichment Ideas

[Sally PB]

Can you make any use of the vertical space at all? Will they hop up on a log?

 

[alinas2010]

Do silkies dust bathe? Maybe you could add a shallow dust bathing bucket to their run; that’s one of the things mine only get to do in their run so it kills some boredom when they’re stuck in there.

Maybe some piles of hay and leaves with treats hidden in them to scratch through in the winter.

 

[SueT]

Here’s another idea for the silkies—there’s a current BYC contest for Poultry Pecking Pumpkins…you could give them pumpkin…
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ultry-pecking-pumpkins-photo-contest.1599120/

 

[rosemarythyme]

Piles of stuff they can dig through.

Will they climb up on things at all? Straight up run clutter gives them stuff to interact with, but since they don't roost you'd probably want to avoid things that are mostly about getting up high unless they can be ramped up to: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/page-6#post-25037140

 

[Bananabread]

I agree with branches. My chickens were hesitant at first but I found putting some meal worms or treats up on the branches helped them get over the baseline predisposition to avoid anything new.

 

[Bananabread]

Branches are also perfect for draping edible leaves and vegetables down from without any effort at all for them to entertain themselves with. While I hate to endorse amazon...we got some perfect chicken feeding skewers that we can hang almost any type of vegetable that also work great.

We grow nasturtiums around our home which are perfect because they grow like weeds and chickens love them (the flowers are edible human treats on salads too!)

 

[rosemarythyme]

We grow nasturtiums around our home which are perfect because they grow like weeds and chickens love them (the flowers are edible human treats on salads too!)

View attachment 3646372View attachment 3646373

That's so pretty! I used to put nasturtiums in my salads to jazz them up, but my chickens would not touch any part of them.

 

[Bananabread]

That's so pretty! I used to put nasturtiums in my salads to jazz them up, but my chickens would not touch any part of them.

Interesting. Maybe it's the crimson/red component but ours went wild for them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Interesting. Maybe it's the crimson/red component but ours went wild for them.

I think each flock has differing opinions on what is edible. Like a lot of people mention their birds liking lettuce - not mine. Typical supermarket zucchini is right out too.

 

[Elliemae1984]

Do silkies dust bathe? Maybe you could add a shallow dust bathing bucket to their run; that’s one of the things mine only get to do in their run so it kills some boredom when they’re stuck in there.

Maybe some piles of hay and leaves with treats hidden in them to scratch through in the winter.

Reading all these great suggestions is making me realize how “special” my silkies are lol.

They get a dust bath on the floor of the run (I sprinkle it down every other day for them) because they won’t even hop up enough to get into a shallow kitty litter box .

Love the idea of hiding the treats so they have to work for them!