What kind of toys for my chickens?

[ninny]

im planing on having pairs and trios in small breeding pens and a schedule for exercise. i want them to be happy!! but i can't let them have large pens. so would they play with toys? Anything to enrich thier little lifes. as these will be silkies and showgirls i am not planing on having roosts. so plenty of room. what would they play with? my rabbits and guiena pigs i would buy toys and stuff their hay in tubes. would parrot toys work?

 

[ella]

They don't chew on stuff like parrots, but they do like little mirrors, I've used mirrors for chickens when they're in quarentine. Full grown roosters might attack a mirror though so not such a good idea for the boys.

Food toys are great! I've used seed cakes like they make for parrots. They love those. My flock of 25 would strip a 5 inch seed cake in about 3 minutes. A hanging kabob could be a good treat, with soft fruit and bread on it. Anything that requires them to work for their food is good.

Hard foods like apples and carrots are usually not very popular, they can't get their beaks into it very well. Whatever treats you use keep it in moderation, the majority of their diet should be a complete feed.

You'll have to experiment to see what your particular birds like, every individual is different.

 

[ninny]

would something like a kong toy for dogs work? im worried that with out a run they will have weak bones because of lack of excerise. i dont want to just make them sit in there with nothing to do. well besides breed of course.

 

[Ivagrovegirl]

Our chickens like to play with the plastic or rubber dog ring toys. We gave them to our chickens when we first started. They were Buff Orpingtons. hope that helps,
Emily

 

[basicliving]

This is not a toy, but fresh raked leaves dumped into the run keep my chickens busy scratching for hours. I sprinkle some black oil sunflower seeds over the leaves and they go crazy scratching for them.

Penny

 

[hennypenny9]

For a quick fix, go around your yard and pull up lots of weeds. Don't bother shaking out the dirt (lots of fun bugs for your chickies to eat), and just dump them in the pen. Mine would go crazy for hours digging through to find goodies.

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I agree with the idea about the weeds.

A bale of straw or hay is also hilarious; they play ring around the rosey and king of the hill, and if you lay it on it's side, it's not very tall at all.

 

[ChickyPooh]

Cabbage on a string! (like soap on a rope) hang it from the rafters and they go crazy pecking and jumping at it

 

[kaylakala]

Wow what cool ideas!

 

[chandasue]

Someone else just asked this question. I suggested parakeet or cockatiel toys like the kind you'd hang inside a bird cage with bells.