Chicken Boredom Busters can keep your chickens safe as well as entertained.

Chickens need mental and physical stimulation to stay happy and healthy. When confined to an enclosure, they can easily become bored, leading to feather pecking and bullying. Fiona & Hugh Osborne guide you through some simple boredom busters for your flock.

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WHY BOREDOM BUSTERS ARE NECESSARY

Many chicken keepers keep their chickens in enclosures for a multitude of reasons. This might be the presence of foxes in the area, the threat of a large raptor to small bantams, or the potential for dogs to attack unsupervised chickens. Even if you do normally free range your chickens, the large number of Housing Orders over Winter in response to Avian Influenza means that we all must be aware that enclosures can result in bullying and distressing behaviours.

SIGNS OF BOREDOM IN CHICKENS

You might be wondering what bullying and distressing behaviours look like and there are some very simple answers. It's anything where a hen is forced to cry out, run away or cower. Feather pecking is probably the most common. This is where one hen pulls at another's feathers, sometime breaking them off, sometimes pulling them out altogether. The worst thing about this is that it can cause red, inflamed skin, which in turn attracts the attention of other hens who peck the red skin. It's a nasty cycle.

There are other signs of boredom including lethargy, lack of activity, overeating and repetitive behaviours.

Chickens naturally spend their time foraging, dust bathing, perching, and socialising. In a confined space, they may not have the opportunity to express these instincts, leading to frustration and boredom. The key to chicken boredom busters is to introduce things that support mimicking natural behaviours and keep chickens occupied.

NATURAL ENRICHMENTS

One of the simplest ways of enriching a chicken’s enclosure is to bring the outside, inside to nurture those natural behaviours.