Trying to keep my chickens happy with a very small run

[thunderbug]

We've had our 3 little banty hens for 2 years now. We live in the city (boston) so we have minimal space. Behind our house is a long, narrow grassy area that ended up being perfect! The coop is on stilts so that the chickens can have dry dirt baths under it. The run is about 40 square feet. We have the option of expanding to the other side of the coop to make it 100 square feet.

Here is my problem- I grew up in eastern Oregon on 245 acres with about 30 hens. I loved that they could roam all over and forage for bugs and eat plants. Right now, I cannot let my chickens out (even though we have a park behind our house) because the neighbor's cat stalks them (we started with 4 and the cat got one very early on).

I feel bad that they don't have any grassy areas to run around in. Besides expanding our coop, is there anything else that I can do to keep them entertained and happy?

Thank you!

 

[garp94]

can you put in branches so they can perch above the ground? rotating perches every month would make it interesting.

Heads of cabbage. Mine love pecking them to nothing.
I also buy mine heads of escarole and chicory during the winter to give them fresh greens
hanging apples???

Maybe let them out to the other side of the coop when someone is outside to keep the cat away so they can get to that grass every once in a while???

Do you have a place to sprout grass [ or kale or barley greens] in trays to give them??

 

[sepaditty1]

I just made a grass farm for mine. I stapled fencing to the frame of a pallet & planted grass seeds under. In theory, since the chickens can't scratch the dirt, the grass should be able to keep growing. Mine has just sprouted, so I'm not really sure.