The boredom issue....

that flock block sounds like just the thing for winter! i'll check at the feed store to see if they have any. i have noticed a marked increase in the picking on each other , since the weather has gotten colder - and it isn't even winter yet!

we have a smallish coop 8 x 16 for our 11 hens and 1 roo, and I have been thinking of putting particle board shelves from the top of the nest boxes to the wall on either side - to make a partial 2nd floor - they climb up the 2' ladder to the nest box, jump on top, and then can walk /sit on the shelves - will give another 1/3 in floor space while still leaving light from the window coming in.
 
What works best for me:

Go cut as much tall weeds as you can manage (make sure there is nothing massively toxic in there) and chuck it in a pile in the run. Really get a LOT. They will while away many happy days sorting and re-sorting it. When it has disappeared or gotten too thin, do it again. If you have to use winter-dead stuff, or straw, you can scatter a VERY SMALL AMOUNT of scratch grains thinly over the stuff, to give them something to hunt for.

GOod luck,

Pat, who ended up having to remove one troublemaker hen who kept removing all my chantecler cockerel's tailfeathers no matter what else I tried to provide for them to do -- so it's not a guarantee.
 
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I'm going to dump some of the leaves I rake up off the yard into their run. They can scratch through it and find bugs and stuff, plus they will rip the tough oak leaves apart so they can go into the garden and rot down faster. The chicken poop might even promote a faster breakdown of the leaves too.

Might as well put the girls to work!!
 
I don't remember who suggested it, but STRING CHEESE! Peel a stick into lots of strings and then "hide" it in weeds/scratch/cabbage. Mine play keep-away forever with the strings - quite entertaining for everyone.
 
I built two "chicken trees" - they love to jump around on them, and back & forth between them. I hang stuff (cabbage, etc.) from the branches, too. I also have a couple large plastic bins - very heavy duty, parts bins for automotive parts, and I lean them up at angles against the walls, posts, one I have a hole cut in the side big enough for them to go in & out of...I move them around periodically - this all seems to help.

chickensontree.3.jpg

playground.jpg
 
I put two old broken chairs out in the run, and they spend all day playing "king of the mountain". I've also left a few plastic cups out there (accidentally) and they play with those. I think there's a pink one and a green one.
 

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