My big Easter Egger hen Lulu has been extremely vocal for about a week now. I’m not sure if she misses her sister, or if she’s bored, or what’s going on. Usually loud vocalizations mean that the hens are laying an egg. Lulu is in the middle of molting her feathers, so she’s not laying. I keep checking for eggs, but no dice.
She was pacing around in her run, so I thought she might be bored and let her roam around in my garden. That helped with the noise. I don’t always want them loose in the yard. Sometimes we are eating in the garden and they get curious and fly up onto the table. Yuck. And periodically we have a hawk who perches in the tree overlooking our garden. Hawks love chicken as much as humans do.
I decided to do what the zookeepers do to keep their animals from getting bored and put in a food toy. I screwed a hook into the base of a cabbage and hung it up in the coop tether ball style. The video above isn’t of my hens. So far my hens haven’t discovered the cabbage. I went in there and “pecked” at the cabbage and they wolfed down the the cabbage bits. But if they think that I’m going to sit in there pecking off bite-sized bits of cabbage for them, they have another thing coming to them. It will be interesting to see if they get as much enjoyment from this cabbage as the hens in the video have gotten. Hopefully I won’t have a dried-up cabbage hanging in the coop in a week!
Chicken Enrichment.
I love it!
Help! I have two great laying chickens that my son and I raised from chicks last spring. We love them but my neighbor is really bummed about their early morning clucking. I get up and feed them around 6:30 and they quiet down for a while (until they are laying around 10), I let them run around the yard (but will try the cabbage trick). But need some more tips — any ideas? I’ve given my neighbors fresh eggs and invited them to bring their preschooler over for a visit, but to no avail. I’m glad to find your website so I can compare notes on Brooklyn chicken farming! Thanks
Hi Sarah,
I’m not sure what to say about the clucking. My hens have gotten very vocal with the laying season just starting. My neighbor across the street is having the same issue with his hens. We are all a bit concerned about bothering the neighbors. Mine do quiet down when I go out there, but I can’t be out there all day. I’ve put planters with greens growing in their run for them to pick at. I haven’t tried any toys, but I’ll bet whatever you put in a parakeet’s cage would interest them.