An extremely bored chicken in the flock can turn into quite the troublemaker. Boredom can lead to bullying, feather pulling, and other signs of aggression and general unhappiness. Of course we don’t want sad or upset birds.
Chickens are smart. And curious. Like us, they need stimulation to live their best chicken life. They are food driven little creatures. We’ll talk about boredom busting coop games in another post. But, today is about food games!! With that in mind, here are a few ideas:
- Try hanging some fresh veggies in the coop; a head of lettuce, corn on the cob, maybe a cucumber. They’ll peck at the deliciousness for hours.
- Make a treat shaker. Recycle a water bottle and poke some holes in it. Fill it with delicious treats and watch them kick it around awhile. You’ll get bonus points if you include some live treats!
- Hulk smash a pumpkin or watermelon, maybe just put a big ol’ hole in one and let them get after it.
Remember to use fresh foods if you are going to make a game with food or treats. Rotten food isn’t good for their digestion or their eggs. You’ll taste the difference in the eggs and it can effect laying production.
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