3 chickens - scared of 4" football

52fish · April 12, 2011

Seriously...

We thought we'd put a 4 inch (toddler size) foorball in the chicken run and see what they'd do with it.

They cowered at the farthest end of the run and wouldn't come closer... not even for food.

Needless to say we removed the football afte 30 minutes and they immediately started strutting round victorious.

Today we tried hanging a corn treat from the run for them to peck at - they haven't touched it.

Albeit they didn't cower in the far corner this time.

Are chickens normally this suspicious?

gongladosh · April 12, 2011

They don't like anything they don't know - ours freaked out over a bag of bark chippings the other week.

That said, Troy, our new boss hen performed a nifty back heel with a small plastic ball in our garden tonight (and then watched it bounce over the lawn...)

majuka · April 13, 2011

Ours are just the same - we tried a mirror in their run as it was meant to keep them entertained - they shouted at that and ran away from it. They did eventually eat a couple of the corn blocks we hung in there, we replaced them with new ones and they won't go near these ones

Duncan08 · April 14, 2011

I havent tried a ball yet, I have been thinking about it though and hanging a CD.

They are now well and truly scared of the hose after using it to help with a bullying problem.

When I rake out the run 3 of our girls run and hide, only 1 of them has worked out I am digging up lots of fresh grubs and worms, but she does make it much harder to rake out as she puts her neck on the line everytime she jumps in for a look!!