If your chickens are kept in a run, providing them with things to occupy them is important to prevent negative boredom behaviors like picking. Some ideas are:
String behind hen has a cabbage hanging from it
Mirrors
Roost in brooder
Roosts made of different materials and at different heights
Not exactly what I had in mind…..
An old Christmas tree to rest under
A swing set about 16” off the ground
Various feeders with greens, herbs, vegetables:
Basket for greens or soft vegetables
Cabbage on a string and root veg garland
Alfalfa mash with mixed dehydrated herbs/forbs/flowers
Peanut butter or suet and nut feeders
Fresh herbs hung up
Trays of sprouted grains
Provide soil covering like straw or dry leaves, or a small amount of old hay. (Too much hay and there’s the chance of crop impaction, as they might try to eat it.)
Mix of old hay, garden waste and leaves
Basic leaf covering of pen
Put in piles of leaves and let them spread them, garden waste behind
Start of a year’s worth of leaves
In summer, they need cooling down when temperatures hit the 90’s. Here are some ideas:
Mixed vegs frozen in bowls of water
The frozen remains from stock making, good for our flock of 90 birds
Seed tray wading pool
Frozen fruit in water
Other ideas:
The blueberry waste from cleaning the berries
Protective chicken netting that is moved often
First set-up in March, they love it!
Garden waste
Pumpkins and squash
Dustbath
Dustbath area
And finally:
Credits:
Wire basket: https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/
Uploaded on March 2, 2015
No known copyright restrictions
Sprouted corn: Free for commercial use
No attribution required
Frozen veg: @Steven Depolo
Swing: @Schnerres CC0 Creative Commons
Frozen fruits: @Danuta Hulajko
Roosts: @CDC/ Eric Grafman acquired from Public Health Image Library (Website)
Chickens playing xylophone: Empty Nest Chickens Band - YouTube
Seed pinecone: @ Bradley West
Pumpkins: @congerdesign CC0 Creative Commons
Xylophone: @richkidsunite
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