My dear Brother in Law, Carl, sent me an e-mail with accompanying video of his chickens enjoying the chicken version of basketball. Several of his hens were jumping, and vying for the key position, and seemed to be having a great time, plus getting exercise, and a healthy snack. So not wanting to deprive my girls from the same fun opportunity I made my way to the produce section of the local market and purchased a small head of cabbage. Cal put a hole through it and threaded a string so we could hang it at chicken height from a tree in the back yard so our girls could play chicken basketball too.
First Cal hung it from a tree we could not see from our patio. That would not due as I wanted to see my girls frolicking ad having a good time. So he moved it to another tree closer to the patio, but it was on the far side of the tree. No.
Finally he got it hung just right, and we set the girls free and stood back to watch them play. They walked right past it, never even giving it a glance. So we gave it a push so it swung a bit, you know, trying to get their attention. No.
So Cal said, maybe they don't realize it is food, so he tore off a leaf and gave some to the girls. They turned up their noses, still no basketball game ensued. I pondered what could be the problem. I e-mailed Carl to get his opinion. He said they needed a chance to discover that it was food.
It has now been three days and the cabbage is looking like the most unusual wind chime, just swinging in the breeze. WTH.
I finally came to the realization that Carl's chickens are numerous and free range, foraging for food, so to them a hanging cabbage is like low hanging fruit. Our girls are only two, and have an abundance of food in their feeder, plus scratch, raisins and mandarins oranges. A wilting cabbage is not match for any of that. Besides they would have to work for it by jumping slightly, which I am sure they consider "beneath" them.
I short, we have two spoiled city chickens, and one butt ugly wind chime.
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