Keeping Chickens entertained in a small run

[BabyBantam]

Noticed over the last few days, than one of my girls is 'pacing' the run perimeter. Its a forsham ark on grass 1.3m x 1.8m with a home made run (doubling the size) attached. I've given them an outdoor perch in the run and they get greens hung from the room to keep them busy, but they never seem at all interested in eating them. The roof isn't very high, so can't give them any sort of platforms and Mildred is broody, so the fact Nancy's on her own downstairs doesn't help.
I let them out after work till it gets dark and they then have approx 30sq m to play in. This includes dust pot (see avatar), flowerbeds to dig in and lawn area with oodles of hole digging fun.
Can anyone give me any ideas how to keep them amused, or is this behavior down to the fact she's on her own?

 

[kegs]

You could try hanging cd's up putting a mirror in to keep her company (I think you can buy parrot mirrors that won't break) and there is also a chicken ball you can buy where you can put treats inside to keep them amused.

 

[chrismahon]

Ours start pacing the runs as soon as they see me BB. Getting excited about being let out. If they can't see me they are perfectly happy. They are all on the old side and we have no hybrids left now. The old Blackrocks used to do a lot a pacing all of the time and they were only kept in the pen for the first couple of hours so they ate proper food.

It didn't matter what we hung or added to the run, they just wanted to forage, which is what they are bred for.

 

[Marigold]

Where is Mildred? If she's broody is she spending her time in the nestbox and this is why Nancy is on her own? if so you need to get her out of there, for the sake of both the girls. Mildred will go on sitting for weeks when she is deeply broody and this will not only deprive Nancy of companionship but Mildred's health will suffer as she will lose weight and condition, to no purpose if she isn't sitting on eggs.
There are threads on here about how to break a broody, and ideally you should start as soon as you see the first signs of a hen spending too long in the nestbox. Basically you need to cool down her hormones and the hot brood patch she will have under her chest, by keeping her out of the nestbox, indeed out of the coop itself. Some people keep a broody in a wire dog cage where air can get to her all under her tummy, though it also works if you divide your run into two areas and during the day put Mildred in one part with water and corn to eat, ie wheat, rather than layers pellets as this plain diet will help her to recover better than the richer pellets - no treats at all. Make sure she has shelter from the weather but nothing comfortable to snuggle into - the idea is to cool her hot chest and give her no opportunity to brood. At night you could block off the nestboxes (I use large flower pots) and she can roost in the coop so long as you can see she is on a perch and not on the floor keeping her chest warm.
I'm afraid I don't go along with the dangling CD idea or indeed for any other kind of extra 'entertainment' for hens. The novelty soon wears off after a cursory peck or two and you are left with whatever underlying management issues caused the 'boredom' in the first place. At least Nancy is getting plenty of exercise! I think she is just waiting to be let out into the garden, quite understandably, but she won't do herself any harm by pacing up and down.

 

[BabyBantam]

Mildred is locked out of the nest box permenantly, only open if Nancy wants to lay & she 'squarks' at me when she wants access - she only lays every other day! Mill is 'nesting' on the perch upstairs, but was downstairs when I got home last night, so fingers crossed she may be coming out of it. One of the broody threads is from me, so aware to take her off nest/make sure she eats etc I'm also unhappy about only having 2 birds, but lost my others to Mareks, so unable to restock
I'm also sure that they know the sound of our car, so it may be she only starts pacing when she knows I'm home.... will park up the road tonight & see if she's doing it when I sneak in....