There has been a lot of fox activity in my area recently - one came in to my garden at 3.30pm the other day! Luckily, I had just locke che chooks back in their run. But it means that I cant let them free range unless I am physically in the garden with them... for now anyway. So I am racking my brow for good ideas on how to keep them entertained when confined to their run. They have a perch and a sandbath and I hang up the odd half cabbage or apple. Sometimes clumps of wild garlic hung up on string. I sometimes even give them half a pomegranate when they are very cheap and in season, or a courgette dangling from the roof etc. However, I could do with more ideas - what do you guys do?
What to hang in run?
- Thread starter Roisin
- Start date
Hi Roisin. Me again...
A favourite for my girls is the leaves from the outside of a cauliflower; the trick is to cut out the cauliflower whilst leaving the rest in one piece, so it's easy to suspend the leaves & stalk on a loop of string. I hang it just above the girls' head height.
You can also buy seed blocks, designed for wild birds, hamsters, rabbits etc. which either come as a ring, with a hole in the middle that the string can go through, or with a plastic hanger through the middle. I hung up a couple of these when I introduced my new girls to my existing flock, as a handy diversion, & they proved very popular. Another option, also designed to stop boredom in caged furry pets, is a hollow ball of twigs (possibly willow, I'm not sure) which you can fill with dried mealworms. The hens have to roll the ball around to get the mealworms out. Not sure how well this would cope with the mud though, as I've only used it in the summer.
Lastly, today I've tried something that I've read about; my girls have recently started mutual feather pecking, which I thought might be down to boredom, so I've tipped a wheelbarrow-load of raked up leaves into a corner of their run for them to ferret about in. Not sure what they'll make of them yet & whether they'll be popular; I'll have to let you know in a few days.
I'm sure you'll keep your girls well entertained. They sound well loved.
A favourite for my girls is the leaves from the outside of a cauliflower; the trick is to cut out the cauliflower whilst leaving the rest in one piece, so it's easy to suspend the leaves & stalk on a loop of string. I hang it just above the girls' head height.
You can also buy seed blocks, designed for wild birds, hamsters, rabbits etc. which either come as a ring, with a hole in the middle that the string can go through, or with a plastic hanger through the middle. I hung up a couple of these when I introduced my new girls to my existing flock, as a handy diversion, & they proved very popular. Another option, also designed to stop boredom in caged furry pets, is a hollow ball of twigs (possibly willow, I'm not sure) which you can fill with dried mealworms. The hens have to roll the ball around to get the mealworms out. Not sure how well this would cope with the mud though, as I've only used it in the summer.
Lastly, today I've tried something that I've read about; my girls have recently started mutual feather pecking, which I thought might be down to boredom, so I've tipped a wheelbarrow-load of raked up leaves into a corner of their run for them to ferret about in. Not sure what they'll make of them yet & whether they'll be popular; I'll have to let you know in a few days.
I'm sure you'll keep your girls well entertained. They sound well loved.
Weeds, weeds and more weeds!
Even in the dingiest parts of January you'll probably see chickweed, get handfulls of that and hang some up, spread some more around. Then there's nettles, which are great hung in a bunch. Goosegrass will appear soon enough, a few old apples, smooth sow thistle and similar plants... Anything thats worth pecking at really.
I also like to scatter and kick some grain in to the loose stuff in the run, keeps them amused.
Try also multiple perches, maybe a extending the run (if its small) to include a corner for some folk to stand around, anything to make it more interesting.
They're not the brightest creatures, so keeping them entertained is -rarely- too hard. Good luck
Even in the dingiest parts of January you'll probably see chickweed, get handfulls of that and hang some up, spread some more around. Then there's nettles, which are great hung in a bunch. Goosegrass will appear soon enough, a few old apples, smooth sow thistle and similar plants... Anything thats worth pecking at really.
I also like to scatter and kick some grain in to the loose stuff in the run, keeps them amused.
Try also multiple perches, maybe a extending the run (if its small) to include a corner for some folk to stand around, anything to make it more interesting.
They're not the brightest creatures, so keeping them entertained is -rarely- too hard. Good luck
Goose grass is really good stuff, dark green and they love it when its young and tender, it's coming up in our hedge now. Also they love garlic mustard when it comes up, and I confess to pinching a few leaves of the oilseed rape coming up in the fields I pass when out walking, nice green cabbage stuff and it makes no difference to what's left on the plant. Have to take care it's not been sprayed though, accidental seedlings in the hedgerows probably best. On a really good day mine get the last few grapes on the bunch, ........
Oh, I wish my girls would eat the goose grass. It comes up everywhere in our garden, & brings me out in an itchy rash.
Unfortunately my hens seem to like it as little as I do...09
On the plus side, the wheelbarrow load of leaves is proving a great success. The girls have been engrossed in ferretting through them for hours today. Tomorrow afternoon I think I'll throw a handful of mealworms amongst the leaves, to give them more to search for.
Unfortunately my hens seem to like it as little as I do...
09 On the plus side, the wheelbarrow load of leaves is proving a great success. The girls have been engrossed in ferretting through them for hours today. Tomorrow afternoon I think I'll throw a handful of mealworms amongst the leaves, to give them more to search for.
I have hung a plastic milk bottle from the roof of the run for my girls. I have made 2 little holes in the bottom and then half fill it with corn or other treats. As they peck at the bottle it swings and drops the treats. It is very funny watching them move to peck and then move to avoid it swinging! They empty it over the course of the day if they don't get out for long.
I did also have a treat ball that you can buy for hamsters but they realised far too fast that if they kicked it around it would empty the treats and so they would just go at it for 10 minutes and empty the lot! The swining bottle takes rather longer to empty so keeps them out of mischief!
I did also have a treat ball that you can buy for hamsters but they realised far too fast that if they kicked it around it would empty the treats and so they would just go at it for 10 minutes and empty the lot! The swining bottle takes rather longer to empty so keeps them out of mischief!
I may have to give the bottle a try too!
I did buy a half coconut filed with mealworms, grit etc. but they just ignored it, so not worth paying for really. The giant pecking block from flyte so fancy went down well, but I had to put it on the ground as when it was hanging up they didn't take much notice of it at all.
Cabbage and millet seed sprays go down well with our girls, they prefer sweetheart to savoy though :roll:
I did buy a half coconut filed with mealworms, grit etc. but they just ignored it, so not worth paying for really. The giant pecking block from flyte so fancy went down well, but I had to put it on the ground as when it was hanging up they didn't take much notice of it at all.
Cabbage and millet seed sprays go down well with our girls, they prefer sweetheart to savoy though :roll:
