Show Off Your Games!

[saladin]

Uh? cuda, you are trying to catch up with me on the birthday thing! lol.

 

[JShubin]

My wife found this article on a DIY chicken toy... It pretty simple use of a plastic bottle and some chicken scratch to entertain bored chickens. The author of this article said her chickens spent the entire day pecking this thing around the yard. I am going to make a few of these for my penned up chickens. Give them something ot do all day while Im at work.



you can find this article on naturalchickenkeeping

 

[saladin]

That thing would cause nothing but a fight in my hen house! lol.

Pumpkin is a lot more natural to use. If their bored get them a good cock.

 

[JShubin]

That thing would cause nothing but a fight in my hen house! lol.

Pumpkin is a lot more natural to use. If their bored get them a good cock.

What do you mean pumpkin? They wouldnt be able to see the scratch... they'd just eat the pumpkin.
a few of my free-rangers pecked away at at my kids jack-o-laterns on halloween. i dont think pumpkin is good for them in large qtys. maybe if it was boiled or something.... I dont know.

i like this idea because chickens are natural foragers and this gives them the chance to slowly eat throughout the day, instead of being bored in a coop. A good cock gets bored too... im sure he wouldnt mind the toy either.

That website also gave some good ideas of fermenting their scratch... supposedely there are a lot of health benefits to lacto-fermented food.

 

[KristyAnn]

I threw in a raw coconut with all the white layers on it still, and they pecked they hay day out of that for weeks on end. Try that. Anymore diy ideas. Those things I think are just as good.

 

[centrarchid]

What do you mean pumpkin? They wouldnt be able to see the scratch... they'd just eat the pumpkin.
a few of my free-rangers pecked away at at my kids jack-o-laterns on halloween. i dont think pumpkin is good for them in large qtys. maybe if it was boiled or something.... I dont know.

i like this idea because chickens are natural foragers and this gives them the chance to slowly eat throughout the day, instead of being bored in a coop. A good cock gets bored too... im sure he wouldnt mind the toy either.

That website also gave some good ideas of fermenting their scratch... supposedely there are a lot of health benefits to lacto-fermented food.

He likely means pumpkin as in the flesh. The seeds can provide similar value. Anything that makes them work physically and mentally will give the desired results. Providing diversity in feed options where the diet is made up of discrete food items that can scattered about can also provide the desired diversions. I like birds to also have option of flying up to elevated perch and to be able jump about as if on tree branches. If you have pens with sufficient space between them, try putting in partitions between some then pulling them out after a few days making so the social arrangements are more dynamic. I get similar results by moving pens over fresh ground. There is nothing wrong with taking a bird out and making it do a "zumba" workout on a table where it is forced to use wings, legs and mind. You can do this with hens as well.


I doubt you cause social problems among hens with treat filled ball.

 

[JShubin]

Another DIY

My Father-in-law grows oat hay in Central California... and he gives me free bales every once in a while... So I throw in a whole bale of hay into my aviaries (with the twine still on it) and the chickens would spend all day scratching at it trying to get to the oat seeds. It would make a mess but I just used the leftover straw in their nesting boxes or leave it as ground cover.

You can buy a bale of hay for around $15-$20 and it will last months in a coop. You will have to re-tie it up every once in while to prevent the whole bale for coming undone.

 

[centrarchid]

Another DIY

My Father-in-law grows oat hay in Central California... and he gives me free bales every once in a while... So I throw in a whole bale of hay into my aviaries (with the twine still on it) and the chickens would spend all day scratching at it trying to get to the oat seeds. It would make a mess but I just used the leftover straw in their nesting boxes or leave it as ground cover.

You can buy a bale of hay for around $15-$20 and it will last months in a coop. You will have to re-tie it up every once in while to prevent the whole bale for coming undone.

I have done similar with red winter wheat straw and added other types of seed once the wheat seed was exhausted.

 

[varidgerunner]

These are some games from cackle hatchery. BBBR cockerel, and a wheaten pullet.
Any Idea what the wheaten pullet would look like as a cockerel?

 

[JShubin]

I always liked looking at the Cackle Hatchery OEG breeds. It was my first window into the world of game fowl. I never bought any from them, I ended up recieving my original flock from my neighbor (he has over 150 roosters on his farm down the street).

The Cackle Hatchery website shows this image for the Wheaton cock.. Obviously a pullet will never be a cockeral, but her offspring may look like this. Probably light colored legs, Golden red Hackle and a straight comb according to Cackle Hatchery.