No one likes to sit around the coop all day doing nothing; keep your birds busy with these fun activities.

by Audrey Pavia

Boredom and chickens are not a good combination. When hens have nothing to do, they create their own fun. And their idea of fun means picking on other hens, pulling out their own feathers and eating their eggs before you have a chance to harvest them.

Free-ranging chickens rarely get bored because they have lots of opportunities to explore their surroundings. Cooped chickens are another story. With nothing but their coop walls and each other to keep them amused, confined chickens get into trouble.

If the situation dictates that you keep your chickens in a coop instead of allowing them to free-range, you can still do a lot to help keep them from going stir crazy. Providing an enriching environment along with some changes in their routine can turn your bored flock into a bunch of happy hens.

Lifestyle Changes

One of your first considerations for creating a more stimulating existence for your cooped chickens is making some changes in their lifestyle. This means changing the way they live on a daily basis. Here are some suggestions.

• ADD A ROOSTER. If you have a flock of hens without a rooster, you have no idea the fun you - and your hens - are missing. Adding a rooster to your coop will change the dynamics of the group in a big way. The rooster will make your hens’ lives more interesting by adding mating to their daily activities, and his presence will also create a more natural environment for your girls. In the world of chickens, boys and girls are meant to live together.

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Spread a little scratch on the ground to get your gals searching and pecking.

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Some of the other benefits of having a rooster in the coop include watching him court the hens with something known as the shuffle dance; seeing him carry the best morsels of food over to his favorite hen and drop them in front of her; having him break up fights between hens; and seeing him help protect new chicks in the flock.