Winter Blues

[donkee1]

Does anyone have any suggestions for things to do in my coop to keep the chickens from being bored in the Winter.....???

 

[gmendoza]

1. Raise mealworms so you can toss some in there so the chickens can have a mad hunt of bugs thru the pine shavings.
2. Teach them how to play Monopoly or Parchesie

 

[lauriruth]

a handful of mozzerella cheese is a great game!

 

[patandchickens]

Some scratch grains scattered over the coop litter for them to hunt for. Another roost put in somewhere, or if there's room, a small (stable!) table or such for them to explore sittin' on.

And, make the run as appealing as possible (windblocked, and perhaps straw put on the ice or snow) so they will spend as much time as possible out there. If they are young and won't go out it is worth manually chucking 'em out, with some food out there as something to DO, several days in a row to give them the idea. You can even lock them out for a couple hours at a time if they are just popping right back in immediately. Obviously you would exercise reasonable judgement about not doing this in a windy run on a -20 F day or etc, but, often it will make them considerably more outdoorsy.

A lot of people say 'hang a cabbage in the coop for them to peck at', and you can try that but mine have never had the slightest interest in it. Ditto the business of giving them a mirror.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[cottage19]

Mine do go out even in the coldest weather IF we shovel a path for them to roam around a bit but I think they especially like it when I go out to tidy up the coop, change the water etc. They seem to like the company and they know I never come empty handed. They also seem to like Mozart...

 

[mgw]

Put a TV in thier coop.LOL

 

[elmo]

I just tossed down a hunk of alfalfa hay on the bottom of our sand run. Our flock went wild with joy. They've been missing green things in their diets. I've also been clipping leaves of romaine lettuce up in their run (just as I do for our indoor birds), and sometimes I'll give them a stalk of broccoli, too.

I have dried leaves in the bottom of our big run, and they seem to really enjoy scratching through that, too.

 

[vebyrd36]

Okay I'm glad I'm not the only one creating games for my fuzzy butts.