Laura Ingalls Wilder, our incredibly lovable Faverolle chicken is currently broody. I’ve pushed her out of the nesting box, but almost all of the time when I am not looking, she goes back in the nesting box and sits on the eggs and does literally nothing but sit on the eggs and try to hatch them. What we did was we snuck golf balls under her and if she stays broody, we will quietly sneak the golf balls out from under her at night because chickens are very easily tricked at night and she won’t notice us sneaking the golf balls out and putting baby chicks in their place. Anyway, I will let you know how this goes in my next blog post. By the way, broody means that a hen just sits on the nest and tries to hatch chicks and does literally nothing else. Every once in a while, you will have to push her off the nest for food and water. 🤗💦💧🐤🐔

Shiny, kid safe mirrors can intrest the girls for a while. Just make sure they don’t attack it hard enough to break it.

You can coat plastic rings with peanut butter and toss them to the flock, or hang them. 🥜🥜

Set up plastic kiddie gyms for the chickens to play with. Wrap some kind of food around it for lots of entertainment.

For a little more challenging, stack colored donut rings and then hide something in the middle for the chickens to find. 🍩🍩

Cabbage snack:

Hang head of cabbage in the coop so they can rip off pieces 🥬🥬

Fetch the fruit:

Get their attention and throw a piece of fruit, such as a peach across the coop or yard so they can run over to it.🍑🍓🍇🍌

Snack hunt: Toss small items such as green beans and berries in their bedding so they have to hunt for it. 🥕🥒🥦🥬

Pea chase:

Roll peas across a flat surface, such as a patio, so the chickens can race to get them

Banana log:

Pack an old, rotting log with bananas 🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌

Roll for the peas:

Place frozen peas in a Kong-type toy you would normally use for a dog. Then show the chickens that if they’d roll the Kong, they’ll get the peas.

A lettuce clothesline:🥬

Hang leaves of lettuce from a clothesline.🥬🥬

Fruit toss:

Toss small pieces of fruits and vegetables into the air so the chickens can jump and grab them.🥬🍑🥦🥒🍓🍇🍌

Dig through the squash:

A pumpkin or squash broken open on the yard is fun for them to dig through. It also naturally attracts worms. Once they are used to broken squash, you can place whole ones in the yard for them to peck at. It is also a good one for Halloween, that is if you’re willing to give up your jack’ o ‘ lantern!🎃🎃☠️😉

Chase the watermelon:

Cut a watermelon in half. It rolls as they try to eat it. You can also cut it into rings and tie them up so the chickens have to work to get them. Frozen cubes work well here too.🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉

If you have a bag of frozen cranberries, roll the bright, shiny berries all over the ground for them to chase.🍉🍉🍉

Jump for the cucumber:

Dangle a cucumber through a rope so they can jump up, peck at it, and eat it. 🥒

Kebab for the chickens: 🍢🍡🐓

String several harder fruits and vegetables onto a rope and tie both ends up to make a shish kebab for your chickens🍢🍡🍉🐓🌶🌽🥒🥬🥦🍋🍓

This will surely delight the girls.🍓🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍑🍑 All you need are the following ingredients:

Frozen watermelon chunks (organic) 🍉🍉🍉🧊🧊

Frozen blueberries.

Frozen banana, blended🍌🍌🧊🧊

🐔How to do it:🐔

Place the frozen blueberries in a bowl and thaw slightly. Do the same with the strawberries.🍓

Blend the banana in the blender until it is easy for the girls to chew🍌 and put that on top of the strawberries and blueberries. 🍓🍓

What you’ll need:

Cardboard or wooden box (the more chicks you have, the bigger your box will need to be.)

Wood shavings or newspaper

Heat lamp. CAUTION: this may cause a fire, so please be careful. A safer alternative is an EcoGlow chick brooder. (See A kid’s guide to keeping chickens.)

Chick waterer

Chick feeder

Perches (you can use small sticks as perches.)

This is a picture of the Bock Bock girls when they were chicks🐥🥰😘

This project is just right for those starting on their first flock of baby chicks🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️😘😘🐥

❤️❤️💗💓💓💕💞😍

You can’t go outside to buy your girls toys and treats, but you can still order some things, so why not try a few of these ideas:

Jungle gym. All you need is a tree branch, nails and a hammer and a long piece of wood. To make it, simply nail the tree branch to a price of wood. (We used a power drill.) And once the branch is secure, place the jungle gym in your chicken coop, and make that secure. Now you have a jungle gym!🤩

PVC hoop chicken tractor

This will likely keep your girls entertained, but don’t leave them out there at night or in a thunderstorm! (See The beginners’ guide to raising chickens for instructions.)

Painting for the chicken coop. You will need a piece of wood (any size) and paint. (Any Colors) and you can paint anything on your painting that you want. It will likely brighten up your chicken coop in hard times like these. Just keep in mind that it probably will get rained on or pooped on!💩💩💩🌉🌇🎆🎑🏞🌠

Swing. For this one, you will need a rope and a short piece of wood. (Not too short!) and a power drill. The first thing that you need to do is drill two holes on each side and put the rope in the holes and tie it securely so that the girls don’t get hurt. Finally, tie the top of the rope to the ceiling of the chicken coop securely. You might want to test the knots out before letting your girls on it.

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Daily entertainment. For this one, all you need to do is come out to the chicken coop every day each time with something different to entertain the chickens so they never know what to expect.(if possible) Or, if you’re training your chickens, you might want to do the same thing at the same time every day.

Note: For more ideas, just look at some of the books I described on the ‘Toys and Treats for your flock’ post.

For toys, simply go to the pet shop and purchase bird toys for your girls to peck. What I did was draw a dot on one of the toys that I purchased and Elvira seemed intrested in one of the toys I purchased from PetCo.

Toys:

Bells. They do love to peck bells, especially if you draw a black dot on them. (They might think it is a bug and become interested in the toy.) 🐛🐝🐝🐝😂😂😂😂😂😂

Unbreakable mirrors. You can find these easily at pet stores

A chicken piñata. You can make this easily with some string and some cabbage. 🥬 All you have to do is find some cabbage in your kitchen and tie some garden twine to it and you’re all set. (Just make sure to take it out of the chicken coop if the girls don’t eat it, or else it will attract rats and mice and possibly predators and snakes.🐍🦊🦅🐁🐀)

Wind chime. For this one, you’ll need garden twine, and if you have any bells in your house, you can tie them to the wind chime. 🛎

For more ideas on toys for your girls, you can look at the following books:

Hentopia

A kid’s guide to keeping chickens

The beginner’s guide to raising chickens

Treats:

Mealworms. Chickens do love them. You can sprinkle these on their feed as a topping, or you can hand feed them to your girls.

Scraps. By this I mean scraps from your kitchen from fruit and vegetables that are going bad or just can’t fit in your refrigerator. (Just make sure that chickens can eat them.

Chicken scratch. You can buy this at feed stores near you or order it online.

For more ideas on toys and treats, just look at the booklist listed above for some fun toys and treats.

Step one. Paint your fingernails and let them dry💅🏻(or if you don’t want to paint your fingernails, you can use another object that your girls are interested in.

Step two. Go out to the chicken coop and ask one or more of your chickens a yes or no question and move your finger Side to side (no) or you can move it up and down (yes) If what you’re using is your finger, the only thing is that you just have to make sure that the girls don’t peck it!

Sadly, chickens don’t live forever. After we lost Grandma, our White Leghorn and a beloved Bock Bock girl, I was devastated. We made a headstone for her in the backyard. We even lit candles for her. Now, for a chicken headstone, you will need to find a rock in your backyard and paint it. After the paint dries, you can paint some paste on it that makes it where the paint won’t smudge in the rain or you can put it under a covered area.

If you don’t have enough land to bury a chicken, you could send your bird to a place near you that buries pets.

We miss you, Grandma❤️💔

In this post you’ll see all sorts of funny videos and movies about our hens.