Chicken boredom busters for winter may seem curious and cute , but there ’s more to rearing domestic fowl during the winter months than just opening their doors and leaving them to their own machine . Without yards to explore and runs to scratch and dustbathe in , chicken grow bore very quickly .
And chickens suffering from wintertime tedium are indeed dangerous chickens . Not to us , mind you , but to its young man flockmates .
Winter Boredom Bothers for Chickens
Pecking - social club wars , feathering picking and — in the worst of cases — cannibalismcan go on when chickens get stir crazy . This is why , in addition to nurturer , housekeeper , testis collector and matcher , we poultry - keepers need to don an extra hat during the colder season : social director .
We might not schedule pear-shaped - the - clock entertainment . But we can do a few simple things to keep our fowl busy in a constructive and healthful way . Here are four of the chicken ennui busters that my family uses to keep our chickens active during the winter .
1. The Trail of Mystery
An escapade await those chickens courageous enough to embark out of their chicken coop on a snowy Clarence Day . One of us — usually my husband Jae or I — will have shovel or snowblown a path that wind around the yard .
The chickens have never been able to resist setting off on this trail of mystery , inquire where it might conduct . We alter it every time , but it does eventually circle right back to their chicken coop .
Our birds get some fresh melodic line and exercise . We get a few hours of amusement watching the hen stroll around as if enjoying a sunny Sunday in the parking lot .
Read more : When chicken are cooped up , it ’s of import to keep them entertained . Here ’s why .
2. O Joy
We found out quite by chance event that our hens adore original - style good-bye , much in the same means that we discover never to carry a sandwich or a slice of pizza in your hand as you walk in our grounds .
One of our cock will stalk you , snatch it and dash off with it before you even sleep together what happened .
In the casing of the Cheerios , it was a paper cupful . Or , rather , it used to be until Davey Orpington strike hard it out of my Logos Bryce ’s hand and proceeded to call every hen in existence to come share his newfound treat . Now , every twosome of week when it ’s winter , the boys and I will string Cheerios onto strands of 14- to 20 - caliber jewelry wire , then enwrap the end of each string around a specially placed nail inside the coops .
The birds have a flack jumping up for the Cheerios and bolt them down . It ’s like verso bobbing for apples . And winter boredom is a faint retentivity for poulet while they play .
If you choose to do this , ensure you do not expend string . Those omnivorous chooks will stress to chow down on that , too . Wire of a lean gage wo n’t give up to a drove of jumping wimp and can become a hazard , so select a heavyset gauge .
you’re able to use any type of circular food grain . But do your skillful to avoid the sweetened and colored character with stilted additives .
3. Ice Cream Corn
Another fact we get a line yet again from firsthand experience is that chickens can quickly demolish an ice ointment cake cone . Those darn things are wafer - thin and crush far more well than the thick sugar cone .
Utilizing the same nail we use to hold our Cheerios fibril , we hang up up orbitual loops made of 14- to 20 - gauge wire . Each loop is just the correct size to hold a cake - style ice - emollient conoid .
We fill each cone about 2/3 full of scratch grains ( too much cabbage make the cone to decrease ) . Then we rent the birds have their play . They get twice as much drill with this treat : jump up to peck at the cones , then scrape in the henhouse bedding to find the tasty grains .
They always seem so surprised when the scrape grain come tumbling out .
study more : look into out these three recipes for vacation delicacy your wimp will love !
4. Chicken Cakes
These special delight resulted from my attempt to keep my children from going stir crazy several years ago , when we were snowed in for almost a calendar week . We ’d played endless game , read several books , watched plenty of television and TV , and had even clean the house ( I might have been the only one excited about that ) .
The male child were now bored and cross . And like crybaby experiencing winter boredom , this , too , can get dangerous !
One afternoon , I got out our individual mini - loaf goat god and the following heap of healthy snack items from our pantry :
My education to the boy were to mix whatever they wanted together , using groundnut butter as the trench mortar to withstand the component together . They merrily made a huge muddle . Then we locate our overflow Pan in the fridge to chill and harden .
Well , that did n’t work . ( Do n’t tell the boys it was almost impossible to get those messy loaves out of the pans intact . )
I ’m a unfaltering worshipper of “ if at first you do n’t deliver the goods , ” however . When the route were finally clear , I grease one’s palms some beef suet at the market and depict it . I then recount the boys to make more miniloaves because the “ chickens devour the first single . ”
I explained to the kids that the blubber in the suet is a high-pitched - push food that helps our rooster and hens keep warm in the winter , and that we ’d keep the peanut butter for another time . My little chefs had even more fun relieve oneself their “ poulet cakes ” with the suet and , this meter , the cakes release out quite beautifully .
And the chicken did indeed raven them . They were everlasting chicken boredom dude !
Heed these special notes if you choose to make chicken cake with your Thomas Kyd :
