Dried sweet corn as a chicken toy

We still have one hen in a tractor, destined
for the pot once we get a pause in our busy autumn schedule.  As a
sop to my conscience, which doesn’t feel bad about eating her but does
feel bad about putting her in solitary confinement beforehand, I like
to give our loner treats.  Her current favorite is dried
sweet corn, hung by
its dried husk through the top of the chicken tractor without securing
it in any way.



Our loner hen picks a
kernel at a time off the cob and it takes her quite a while to make it
through the ear of corn.  I suspect that urban chicken-keepers
could use a combination of dried sweet corn and sunflower
heads to keep their
chickens occupied, a bit like inside dogs are often left with those
peanut butter-filled chew toys when their masters have to be gone all
day.  Add in our homemade chicken
waterer and you have
a recipe for active, healthy chickens rather than a picked and pecked
on flock.