what do you all do to keep your birds from being too bored all winter?what do you feed for treats?

[CSWolffe]

Odd my girls are outside the moment its dawn.they stay outside all day and until its past dark which I think is really strange..vampire chickens! They are only in the coop to sleep, lay eggs or make sure there are no treats in there that may have been missed.summer or winter they are hardly in their coop at all. The bantam runs in to thaw under the heat lamp often through out the day. The scissor beaked bird is in there pretty often as she mainly eats feed and freze dried meal worms. Their coop hasn't been warmer than 36-37 f in some time..still about ten regrees warmer than it is outside. When it hits around the 40's we shut off the heat lamps. There are days with really bad winds..freezing rain and I wish the dumb girls would stay inside!

I don't use a heat lamp at all, the coop is warmed solely by their body heat, and I have straw substrate. Once the snow melted a bit, and was trampled down by the dogs, I managed to lure them out of the covered pen across the yard with some oats. There was a lot of flapping and squawking and running, but once they reached a dry spot, they were quit happy to dirt bath the rest of the day. Since then they've realized that walking in snow wont kill them, and they venture out every day. If it's snowing though, they dont even stick their head out of the coop.

 

[azygous]

Redecorate. Any sort of rearrangement of the coop or run will result in renewed excitement. I just moved a flock block to a different part of the run this morning, and you'd have thought I had just made it appear.

 

[MaPa26]

Redecorate. Any sort of rearrangement of the coop or run will result in renewed excitement. I just moved a flock block to a different part of the run this morning, and you'd have thought I had just made it appear.

That's worth a try! Thanks for that idea. I have a flock block too. I thought I might have to cover it (with a galvanized tub) most of the day, to keep them from eating on it, too much. They hardly touch it. I think maybe they nibble on it the most when they are waiting for their breakfast. I keep throwing new flakes of straw in, and some cracked corn and boss (for desert), and they seem pretty content.

 

[spies04]

My girls love BOXES!! Believe it or not, they go crazy playing with boxes. It starts out as a bathing station, then they peck it all over, then its been turned over and they are standing on it, or in it on its side. It will end up at the other end of the run. I usually leave the box in for 2 days, by then it looks like truck ran over it!

I never thought of this - what a great idea!! I am totally going to try this. In Minnesota, you never know how long the winter is going to go.

 

[Jipus5]

I have read from the Agricultural Science Department of Australia that they actually came over here, took some SALVINIA with them, and are now allowing it to grow freely which it quite quickly, to feed their poultry.
It states that chickens can thrive on Salvinia. SO, I went to a local lake brought some home, placed it in a rain water filled kiddie pool and are allowing it to grow!
Now for those of you who dont know what this is, it is the greenery that is covering lakes, ponds and some streams in the southern states. When you watch one of those crocodile hunting shows based in Louisiana, the greenery covering the water most of the time is the SALVINIA. I will continue to read up on this, but it sure seems to be a cheap as hell way to supplement my feed!!! And natural!!

 

[BunnyLover44]

I have read from the Agricultural Science Department of Australia that they actually came over here, took some SALVINIA with them, and are now allowing it to grow freely which it quite quickly, to feed their poultry.
It states that chickens can thrive on Salvinia. SO, I went to a local lake brought some home, placed it in a rain water filled kiddie pool and are allowing it to grow!
Now for those of you who dont know what this is, it is the greenery that is covering lakes, ponds and some streams in the southern states. When you watch one of those crocodile hunting shows based in Louisiana, the greenery covering the water most of the time is the SALVINIA. I will continue to read up on this, but it sure seems to be a cheap as hell way to supplement my feed!!! And natural!!

Is that the same thing as lilly pads but smaller?

 

[MaPa26]

BunnyLover44- I "googled" it. There are many different species of it.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/nov01/giant1101.htm

 

[Jipus5]

Is that the same thing as lilly pads but smaller?

Salvinia is a water fern. Interesting stuff. im trying it out on 5 of my 32 chickens to see how it goes... still researching all i can about it though too. Below is the first i got from googling
"CAN CHICKENS EAT SALVINIA"


Great Answer

Professionally Researched. (What's this?) Chickens thrive on salvinia, a type of water fern, according to the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. However, salvinia is an invasive weed and its seeds can be transported to other ponds. ASPCA Poison Center does not list it as a toxic plant, nor does PoultryHelp.com.
References:

Permaculture Research Institute of Australia: Convert Your Eco-Unfriendly Swimming Pool into a Biologically Active and Attractive Fish Farm!
ASPCA: Poison Control Center
PoultryHelp.com: Toxic Plants


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