The season is here again! Its Christmas time and you want to make your hens happy. So, what are the best gifts for chickens you want to buy them?
Our breed chickens love gifts and treats. This makes them go nuts especially when they feel appreciated for laying those fresh eggs for breakfast.
Pet chickens will love it most when you come home holding a gift or something good for them. May they be tasty treats like that cabbage head or some leftovers after you had enough. They will love them.
Just like we humans, there is a good feeling when surprised with a bouquet of red roses. Hmmm,….that sounds sweet especially on a valentine.
What of your chickens what would they feel if you offer affection and love by bringing gifts for them? Let’s look at some of the gifts for chickens.
1 Chicken Scratch
This is one way to make your chickens happy and healthy. Chicken scratch is inexpensive and easy to make for your friendliest roosters.
Scratch is a good way to keep your feathered friends busy and warm during winter. Scatter some chicken scratch on the chicken bedding and it will keep them busy before dusk.
It is a nice treat to add some extra calories in their bodies during winter. Chicken scratch is also a good gift to encourage your birds return to their pallet coop in time to roost.
You can make your own DIY chicken gifts of scratch by mixing several leftover grains and cereals. However, always feed chicken scratch to chickens in moderation as a treat. Scratch does not have all the nutrients they need and can lead to malnutrition when eaten as their main course.
2 Treat Balls
Treat balls are other good gifts for chickens. They are hanged from the chicken coop roof using chains or wires for the birds to peck at what you put inside for them and help break boredom.
Inside the treat balls put your favorite snack as a surprise for your girls. As for me, I prefer to put different vegetables like lettuce, broccoli and some leftover carrots to help supplement their diet of crumbles with extra nutrients.
This way, chickens are kept busy. You know idle hens are good at pecking one another causing bruises, scars and even deep wounds.
3 Cracked corn
This treat is very good for your bantam breeds because they have small throats to swallow whole corn. Cracked corn will keep your birds warm because some heat will be generated during digestion.
This is a healthy treat too and should be fed sparingly and in moderation. Scatter some cracked corn on chicken bedding to keep your flock busy as they search for every bit.
However, cracked corn is not a good gift for baby chicks. These little critters cannot digest some things because their digestive systems are not fully developed. Let them stick to chick starter feeds until they are over 8 weeks old.
4 Chicken toys
Chicken toys are a good way to offer a cheap and healthy therapy to your birds. Toys are a good way to keep birds occupied and busy especially when confined in a deep litter coop.
Idle chickens are likely to get obese and stressed because they do not exercise their body muscles well especially during winter when they mostly spend much of the time indoors.
Chicken toys will help act as boredom busters keeping chickens minds and bodies active. Some like foraging toys helps them exercise pecking and scratching the ground to look for food.
Others like ladders will help chicks practice and learn to perch and roost on bars. Toys are funny chicken gifts that you can give to your chickens as a Christmas gift.
5 Mealworms
Mealworms are tasty and chickens love them without a doubt. These dried worms and grubs are a rich source of protein and are good food for molting chickens.
In the last few years, farmers have started raising mealworms for chickens in the farm. But for those who are yet to do this, dried worms are available from Amazon or any tractor supply store near you.
Tasty worms are a good way to ensure that your pullets get enough protein. Toss a handful of this treat and your birds will go nuts.
In addition to supplementing chickens bodies with protein, mealworms are also rich in other vitamins and minerals that will make sure your Red sexlinks chickens remain healthy.
6 Heated chicken waterer
A heated chicken waterer is one of the best gifts for chickens during winter. At this cold season, every drop of water turns into ice leaving your black hens thirsty and they can easily suffer from dehydration.
This important chicken raising equipment will not only keep the water in liquid form but it will be a few degrees warm and more appetizing to drink on a cold day.
If you don’t have a heated chicken waterer you can either use of a heated base or a submergible water heater. These types of waterers keep the water worm enough for chickens to drink but not hot to burn them.
These can be good gifts for chicken farmers who are busy and want to keep their flocks well-hydrated when they are away in winter.
7 Automatic chicken coop door
I am sure you are worried about the safety of your chickens when you are away. An automatic coop door will keep chickens safe for you.
When the coop door is automatic, chicken predators like possums and wild dogs are kept at bay. The door automatically shuts and closes without you just as you would wish it to.
8 Nesting pads
Nesting pads are ideal gifts for chickens. Unlike putting a bedding material in the nesting boxes that chickens scatter all over by scratching, nesting pads will remain inside the nest box.
They make chickens comfortable as they lay offering a clean environment for the eggs. Nesting pads do not harbor parasites like straw and pine shavings.
These pads can also be used by broody chickens who want to sett on the eggs. They offer a nice area where the warmth can spread evenly on the eggs.
9 Chicken grit
Grit is very important to the health of your chickens. It is the main source of calcium for your laying hens.
Calcium helps in the production of strong and healthy egg shells. Chicken grit acts like teeth to help grind down food in the chicken gizzard.
Most of the food chicken eat is swallowed whole. It is broken down for further digestion in the gizzard where small stones, pebbles and sand act like teeth.
10 Chicken harness
A chicken harness is a good gift for your chickens especially if you want them to accompany you for a walk on a sunny afternoon.
This is very common to those people who raise pet chickens on an urban setting where there is no area for then to roam and free range.
A harness is a fabric material or a breathable mesh that fits over the hens head and over and under its wings to keep it restrained.
On the harness is a leash with is a strap several feet long to give the bird a walk free distance. Those who take their dogs for a walk can understand this pretty well.
A chicken harness works well with mellow chickens like Buff Silkies, Serama roosters and Cochin chicken.
This special gift requires training the bird so that it can learn walking with you without fear. Harnesses are available in an array of colors and sizes depending on the bird’s stage of growth and body size.
11 Chicken diapers
Just like baby diapers, chicken diapers are a special clothing put on and around the chicken butts to collect and prevent chickens from dropping poop all over the house.
Chicken diapers are available in different colors, sizes and shapes depending on your taste and preference. There are disposable chicken diapers that are discarded after they are used.
Apart from disposable diapers, there are also reusable chicken diapers that can be washed, dried and reused again. These types are pocket friendly because they can be recycled.
Chicken diapers are among the best gifts for chickens. They allow your favorite chicken to live with you in your house without messing on your carpet and couches.
12 Saddles
Saddles are common on horse backs. Chickens have their saddles too. These types are not put on chickens so that they can carry you around like your pet shire horse does.
Instead, chicken saddles are meant to protect the hens back from the sharp claws of a rooster with a high libido.
Sometimes, hens are mated often with roosters especially where the roosters are many than hens. This makes certain hens a favorite target by roosters injuring their backs.
Chicken saddles act as buffers preventing the rooster spur and claws from rapturing the skin on the back causing deep wounds.
Gift your hens with saddles to keep them safe from the claws of their aggressive sweethearts this festive season.
13 Automatic chicken feeders
Automatic chicken feeders are a good gift for your red hen breeds. These amazing tools will ensure that the flock is well fed by holding enough food for them.
These types of feeders prevent loss of feed to wild birds, squirrels, rats and other types of vermin. They automatically open once the bird steps on a treadle plate and close once the bird is off.
They are specially designed in such a way that light birds like weavers lack enough weight to open the feeder and have free meals.
14 Swings
Chickens can get bored and stressed easily. Some toys such as a chicken swing are a good way to keep these feathered friends busy and occupied.
Once they are idle, they result to bullying and feather picking. Chicken swings will keep them busy as they perch on it and play with their kind.
The health and well-being of chickens is very important. These birds are curious and intelligent just as kids are.
Go get a chicken swing for your flock this season. This will be a good gift and a boredom buster too. It also give them some mental stimulation and enrichment.
15 A plastic chicken coop
A plastic chicken coop is an awesome gift for your flock of cockerels. A coop will provide shelter for your flock from harsh weather.
Additionally, it will ensure that the birds are secure and free from predators like possums, raccoons and hawks. Chickens will lay their eggs inside the coop.
It is in the coop that broody hens will sett on the eggs and hatch their young. Always make sure the chickens have a place to call home buy gifting them with a nice chicken run.
Summary
Gifts are good to chickens just as they are to us. Make your chickens feel special by spending some of your cash to buy them nice items.
Some gifts are a good therapy for these feathered friends. They help keep them busy and occupied preventing stress and solitude.
What gifts for chickens do you know? Share your thoughts.
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