Treats on a Stick

I got lots of feedback on my last post about my coop set up.  And specifically, the apple on a stick seemed to draw the most comments.

I've always felt bad keeping my girls penned up even though they have a HUGE run for just the two of them.  So I'm always on the hunt for ways to amuse them during the day.  I have no idea where this metal spike came from or what it's suppose to be used for.  I can't tell you how many times I almost tossed it out over the years we've lived her because it was just taking up space.

But I use it ALL the time now to give treats to the hens.  I you can't find one like this, go to the irrigation dept. of your hardware store and you'll find large U shaped hooks used to anchor drip irrigation lines in place.  Those will work great too.

Below is a Black Oiled Sunflower head that I saved from this summer.  I grew a bunch of these and when the flowers were done, and before the squirrels could get them, I cut them and dried them in the sun (under a protective cage, again so the squirrels couldn't get them).

And once a week or so I'll put one out for the hens.

Black Oiled Sunflower Seed head spiked into the ground inside the girls run.

And about an hour later, this is all that's left.  The seeds are pretty tight in the flower head so it
can take them a bit to work them out.  Once they get it started though, it disappears pretty quickly.