Crushed Walnut Shells (Naturally Fresh Litter) for my Hens?

[Ash Raquel]

We have some free-range hens and are looking for things to entertain them. Do you think they would like having a fresh pile of the crushed walnut shells (Naturally Fresh Litter)? Do you think it would be safe?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Not sure about the shells but walnut wood sawdust is toxic. Irritates your nose, eyes, and throat when you work it. It kills insects and even some plant life.

Might do a smell test and set a plate of it near your recliner for a few hours and see if you notice any fumes before trying it in a coop. I would think it would be very slow to break down, much denser than wood.

 

[Penpal]

The walnuts are safe, the wood is toxic.

 

[K0k0shka]

Not sure about the shells but walnut wood sawdust is toxic. Irritates your nose, eyes, and throat when you work it. It kills insects and even some plant life.

Might do a smell test and set a plate of it near your recliner for a few hours and see if you notice any fumes before trying it in a coop. I would think it would be very slow to break down, much denser than wood.

This only applies to black walnut - the wild walnut that's native to the US, not the walnuts we eat. The walnuts we eat come from the European walnut, which is not toxic because it has much, much lower levels of juglone (the chemical that's found in large amounts in black walnut, which kills other plants and irritates skin).

 

[Ash Raquel]

This only applies to black walnut - the wild walnut that's native to the US, not the walnuts we eat. The walnuts we eat come from the European walnut, which is not toxic because it has much, much lower levels of juglone (the chemical that's found in large amounts in black walnut, which kills other plants and irritates skin).

How interesting. So do you think my chickens would enjoy playing in it? I can't remember where my mom heard that from.... but are you able to confirm that they should be entertained by it?

 

[Shadrach]

How interesting. So do you think my chickens would enjoy playing in it? I can't remember where my mom heard that from.... but are you able to confirm that they should be entertained by it?

I think they would rather have the contents than the wrapping.

 

[Ash Raquel]

Since you're a 'premium feather member' do you have any suggestions on things we can use for enrichment? We got a little chicken swing for them but they aren't playing on it.

 

[Shadrach]

Since you're a 'premium feather member' do you have any suggestions on things we can use for enrichment? We got a little chicken swing for them but they aren't playing on it.

You write in your first post that these are free range hens; no mention of a rooster. What is the area the hens range over and what's in it?
A picture or two would be helpfull.

Top of my list for enrichment, entertainment, particularly for a free range group is a rooster. A good one is worth his weight in gold. The hens get to have sex! That might be considered very enriching. Hopefully a hen or few go broody. Let them sit and hatch and not only will you get hours of entertainment and the rooster and hens get to live a more natural existence.
Can't get more enriching than that in my view.

If you are properly free ranging your chickens rather than letting them range in a small back yard, and the land they range on is natural ground with bushes trees and varied vegitation rather than fields and grass then they sould get all the enrichment they need with foraging, dust baths and freedom. They shouldn't need stuff like swings, mirrors, food balls etc.

 

[K0k0shka]

How interesting. So do you think my chickens would enjoy playing in it? I can't remember where my mom heard that from.... but are you able to confirm that they should be entertained by it?

I've never heard of crushed walnut shells used for anything like this, but it sounds like a coarse, harsh texture material and I honestly don't see any appeal in it for the chickens. They can't eat it, won't find food in it, can't dust bathe in it... Why would they care about it at all? It's a strange choice of enrichment. A pile of compost would be much better, if you want to give them a pile of something. Compost at least might have worms and bugs in it.

 

[K0k0shka]

Since you're a 'premium feather member' do you have any suggestions on things we can use for enrichment? We got a little chicken swing for them but they aren't playing on it.

"Premium feather member" just means that the user has paid to not have ads show up on the forum for them. It doesn't have any bearing on the user's experience. Anybody can become a PFM (and they should - to help support this site, because nothing really comes for free).

What chickens consider enrichment, and what people consider enrichment for them, can often be two very different things. Swings, xylophones and other gadgets popularly sold as chicken enrichment are rarely enjoyed by the actual chickens. They are foreign, human things to them. They may peck at them once or twice out of sheer curiosity, but that's it. What chickens do find enriching, is things that encourage their natural behaviors. So things that will make them peck, scratch, perch, forage. A bunch of thick tree limb perches added to the run will be enjoyed as they mimic the branches of a tree, where chickens would roost in the wild. They don't sway and move unsteadily under the chickens' feet, as a swing would. Providing a varied and rich substrate in the run that has particles of different size and type, perhaps with some scratch thrown in occasionally, encourages foraging behavior as the chickens churn the material in search of worms, bugs, or grains. Pecking through that is a lot more enriching than pecking metal slats that have no give, no taste, and no texture (the xylophone). Think about what a chicken would naturally do, and think of what kinds of enrichment would encourage that behavior.