Fun in the Run

[surferal]

Hi...

been looking but can't find anything (not searching for right thing probs)
but

what things do people have in chook runs to keep them interested or entertained etc.
cool places to sit?
dust baths?
diff roosts etc?

am gonna put a sand box of sorts in a corner for them to dust in.
and gonna change where the water and roost are atm but wanted to put other stuff in there. is it worth doing?

cheers for any ideas.

gonna put up a post showing the coop etc but heres a quick pic to give an idea of the coop and run



and here are the girls on day one. in the corner that is soon to be the sandy corner



al

[chris]

I've a couple of branches similar yourself - and erm nowt else.

They seem to have fun with stuff in the garden and chasing each other around! I know someone on here has a swing in there!

[Glutton4...]

They will choose where the dirt bath is. I gave mine a sand bath, and they dug a hole next to it and used that instead!

I have a forked branch stuck in the ground, with three long branches leaning on, so they can climb up if they want to. They also have a stack of bricks, some concrete blacks, fence posts, two lengths of post and rail, bits of sleeper and other rubbish to climb on, and an old trailer to hide under. It's my Dad's fault, he should've tidied up before I fenced it off, he had enough warning! LOL

[Flummery]

I have a garden chair - they fly up onto it and use it as a viewing point! Also a thick stick fastened onto a sort of metal stand so they can use it as a perch. They have a sunken plastic fish box - not the polystyrene ones, a hard pastic one found washed up on the beach. This is sunk to it rim in the corner and part filled with hemcore, same as the run. I dig it out occasionally. They love this and hide down there when it's windy. There's also a cracked terracotta chiminea which they go into and hide, play, make nests etc.
I did have the fish box filled with sand but they ate it! I used to find very sandy poos! Now they dust bath in the hemcore and in the soil when out of the run.

[Suechooks]

Old tyres, a defunct wheelbarrow upside down, old plastic dog beds also upside down and resting on a tyre or pallet, pallets to keep them off the mud, wood chips to dig around in, bowls of growing greenery (last about 5 minutes!) buckets of dug up dandelions, bale of straw,an old chair also upside down, surplus compost bins, cabbages or other brassica plants hung up or in a wire hanging basket.........cuddly toy! etc

[Glutton4...]

Awww Suechooks, I would LOVE to give mine a bale of straw, but my Dad (it's his land) would go potty as they'd make too much mess. I have to wait until it's wet and not too windy, then give them half a bale of bedding.

[Nicos]

Lots and lots of fallen leaves...mine adore scratching their way through them!!!

See if you can collect some dry ones- not to compost but to keep dry for your gals later on in the year!!...they'll love ya for it!

[Suechooks]

Awww Suechooks, I would LOVE to give mine a bale of straw, but my Dad (it's his land) would go potty as they'd make too much mess. I have to wait until it's wet and not too windy, then give them half a bale of bedding.

Yes G4 they do love their straw bales. I open them up, give them about a quarter in each run and leave the rest for next time, and just retie the string. My little Orp bantams love to sunbathe on the top of one - they look SO cute!

[polo]

Mine would be lost without their tin bath full of soil and sand, the extra perches made out of windfall wood but most of all the fallen leaves. They had two binbags full to play In this morning.
Was gouing to make one of the perches into a swing .... See what they make of that.