Will hoey

[pink_jem]

New to the chicken world this summer and with the nights drawing in I'm aware my chicks are going to get less garden free-range time. Do you have any ideas for keeping them entertained in their eglu walk in run?

Thank you!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum . Perches, logs, fruit/veg suspended from the roof all worked for mine. Ikea shoe racks fit nicely across an eglu run to make a little platform.

[pink_jem]

IKEA shoe racks. Brilliant idea!

Being rescue hens mine don't seem to get that they can eat the fruit and veg I give them! Do you have to cut it up? Which types are your hen's favourites?

[mullethunter]

I saw a really good idea for a garland of small veg to string across the run - if you google 'chicken garland' i think it will come up

[Cat tails]

Mine really love broccoli (flower part as well as the stem and leaves), grapes, apples (in halves or peeled and put on a string), fresh corn on the cob (boiled leftovers of my dinner). Cucumber is also nice but they don't eat the skins.

 

It took them some time though to get the hang of foods like this. But there will always be a cheeky hen, who can't resist having a peck at something. This morning, I put some broccoli for them on a string and suspended it from the run roof. I use a knitting needle to poke a whole through the broccoli bits and get some plant binding wire to bind everything together and attach it to a piece of chain.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

IKEA shoe racks. Brilliant idea!

If you cable tie 2 together they'll reach across the widest part of the run.

[pink_jem]

Fab thank you!

I was thinking about creating some high walkways, perches and shelter/boxes as the walk in run is so high I feel that space is wasted. Do you think they will use them or just continue to scratch around on the floor!?

[Cat tails]

I've made perches in my Go Up run, by sticking a few pieces of left over wood through the mesh. Made them to size and with a saw made notches in the wood so they don't move around as much.

My ladies do use them quite a lot.

 

Some people here made chicken swings too.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Mine did and that was in a fairly cramped Eglu classic run. If you can find thin branches that'll fit through the mesh holes, they'll work too.