toys for chicks?

[ginormous chicken]

To the OP: my chicks get to play with a couple of my parrots toys. They have now been designated chicken toys and don't go back to the parrot. They are plastic toys. One is a plastic puzzle, the other is a stack of plastic chips with a bell. They love that! Once one chick figures out how to ring the bell and not to be scared of it, they all want to ring the bell! It is really funny to watch.

 

[buildingmyark]

This are the toys that I've introduced before:

-bell hung from a ribbon
-shiny beads threaded through a wire hanging down
-a roost with mini-bird ladder
-thick tree branch
-mirror
-dots drawn with a sharpie on the side of brooder (they will peck them like crazy)
-stuffed duck animal
-upside-down flower pots

 

[oceanwidedesigns]

I'm thinking about getting some sturdy bird toys the next time we go to a pet store -- something that's a hard enough acrylic that we wont have to worry about them breaking and eating. I know our chicks would love something more to do than to try and scratch a hole into the floor of the brooder, and I'm pretty sure they're sick of watching us work at our desks. My husband was complaining that he didn't feel very comfortable with them staring at him while he was working... like having three feathered supervisors.
When we clean the brooder out, we let them have some moderate fun outside. We have a cardboard box where I've opened the bottom up. We set it out on the grass with the bottom flaps folded to the outside, leaving the bottom open for them to have fun on the grass! The first time they were a little shocked, but now they love it and hate to go back into the brooder.

 

[Kuvasz]

Enjoyed hearing your ideas! I have had some fun with various things like cracker boxes for them to hide in and jump up and 'tap dance' on, and various toys. I also like to video tape them on my iphone, and then let them watch and listen to themselves back on it!!! it's a hoot!
My most recent RIR's LOVED chasing a strand of beads! Here they are:

 

[ninabeast]

I also like to video tape them on my iphone, and then let them watch and listen to themselves back on it!!! it's a hoot!

Isn't that great?! It makes me laugh so hard. I have one BO who's such a camera hog!​

 

[CarlieFNP]

I found out today (inadvertently) that my 1.5 week old chicks love to chase the little dots made by the sunlight reflecting off my engagement ring. Wondering if they might enjoy one of those laser pointers they sell as cat toys.... The chicks were so cute and funny to watch as they scrambled around and pecked at the dots.

 

[lazy gardener]

It would be interesting to take 2 groups of chicks, and expose one group to an enriched environment immediately from hatch, and expose the other group to a typical brooding experience: straight to an outdoor brooder with all of their comfort needs being met, but without the increased stimulation... then do some intelligence studies 4 months later. I don't know that it would prove anything, but it would be interesting. Especially if those intelligence tests included things that we as humans deem to be signs of intelligence, as well as those things that are uniquely chicken, such as predator id and evasion.

An other item that would provide an enriched environment for both chicks and chickens would be a swing. Sadly, I never got around to making one this winter.
Multi level play areas, feather dusters or boas to snuggle under, bugs in a jar... or just plain bugs. An ear of corn, a dust bath,

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

A clump of grass (dirt attached, just make sure you haven't sprayed your grass with anything), mealworms, little roosts, a small bowl filled with sand for them to dust bath in, some hay for them to scratch around in, just get creative! : )

~ Aspen

 

[Riverchicken123]

My chicks love their toys I made them!! Well, my first toy didn't work out!! It was a skewer with colorful strings dangling from it. It was absolutely TERRIFYING to them!!! One chick ran through the water to get away! So I put it away and tried again. I noticed when they splashed water on the side of the box, they started pecking like crazy at it!! So I got out colorful markers and put tiny dots where they could reach it, and they LOVED it!! It was HILARIOUS to watch! Next I put dots on a toilet paper tube, and when they pecked it it rolled!
Go colorful dots!!