Savic Chicken Fun

The media could not be loaded. I have one hen now after losing her sisters and at 9 years old I am not sure she will cope with either me getting more or rehoming her so I set out to find things to keep her busy and happy.When I first saw this I was not sure she would get the hang of it being an old girl but it was worth a try. Now Jasmine has always been an "out for herself" kind of hen and hates sharing which was another reason why I am hoping she will be ok with having just me and my familiy as her flock and so far so good. That said her happiness comes first so the moment I feel she is not a happy girl I will do something.Now back to the toy, it ws easy to fill up with her favourite treats which is mealworm and I took it into her enclosure and rolled it making some of the mealworm fall out, Jas ran away from it to begin with and I spent the rest of the afternoon just rolling it and she came closer and closer till she was picking up the mealworm that was right next to the ball. By the end of the evening it had got to the stage that sh would come up and wait for me to roll it.The next morning I recorded her as I rolled it and you can see for yourselves that she knew what she needed to do to get her treats. That was a few days ago and now she just owns the ball she "beaks" it and kicks it around till she gets every last mealworm out of it.Patience is needed but well worth it and it provides as much stimulation for Jas as it does for us watching her.Just goes to show that you can teach an old hen new tricks!

Just half-fill with corn and place in the garden. An excellent way to keep your free range girls busy, and especially welcome in winter.

Having recently started out as a hen keeper, I'm blatantly an ad man's dream as I feel obliged to buy my girls everything they 'need' to provide for their care and entertainment. Having stumbled across the ball and read many positive reviews, I decided to buy one. The ball arrived and was easily filled with meal worms. I excitedly put the ball on the ground and waited for the football match to commence...and waited...and waited! There's no doubt that Bluebell was inquisitive but the concept of pushing the ball to empty its contents, seemed to be beyond her chicken concepts! Move onto Plan B and roll the ball to show the girls the idea. The meal worms were soon devoured and then closely followed by four pairs of beaddy eyes watching and waiting for me to roll it again. This game went on for some time and I was sure that one of the girls would take the initiative at some stage, but apart from a quick exploratory peck, the rolling part continues to ellude them completely! I can't fault the ball or its construction but my chooks just don't seem the brightest bunch...or maybe getting your owner to roll the ball for you demonstrates higher level intelligence!! In fairness, the ball is quite big for bantams and may be better suited to larger hens. When my back recovers from all the bending, I'll be doing another ball boot camp but until then, the ball's relegated to the chicken bin!!!

Was rather sceptic of this being a gimmick that the chickens 'may' knock into it by accident and just find treats and it not an actual 'boredom killer' - but how WRONG was I !!Normally throw all their treats in the run for them to 'hunt' out and kick through the straw etc, first evening, filled the ball fully and left it 'centre stage' which they looked at but never touched while we watched so left them to it from about 7pm...........By 7am the following day, the ball was at the furthest side of their run and quite dusty/grubby....and.....totally empty !!!Now we fill it daily, position it on their 2ft high tree stump and our cheeky Rhode Island walks over and peers in through the holes with one eye to check it's full and worth attention later !Bottom line is that they LOVE this and picked up the idea from day 1 so buy with confidence folks !!

It's fine but as others point out it just falls open too easily. If the birds stamp on it, it will more often than not open up and let all the corn out. If you tighten the elastic by tying knots in the elastic it does get a little better (although this becomes harder to do so you can only improve it so far).Could be a quality control issue (cutting too long) but would be the perfect product if the elastic was shorter or there was a more secure way of sealing the ball. Buying more regardless... :/

I dont normally write reviews, but I felt I must with this product. 2 balls arrived today and i filled one straight away and sat in the enclosure with my ex bat hens. i sprinkled a few meal worms around to get them interested and then i put the ball down. I gently rolled the ball and a few worms fell out, the hens were straight on them. I kept gently rolling for no more than 5 mins, until i could see one of the hens 'understood' what she had to do......15 mins in and she was was back kicking it around!! Absolutely brilliant to see. I then left them to it. When I went up at dusk to put them away, the ball was completely empty.Just take the time to help them understand what they need to do and it will so be worth it. Happy hens, happy owners. Thank you!!

The chickens like this

I found that holes either end of the product are too big for corn for my chickens, within seconds the ball is empty. I bought this as a boredom buster but it doesn’t entertain them for long as the food doesn’t stay in too well.