do chicks dust bathe?

[AndreaS]

Today one of my week old chicks was lying on her side in the pine shavings, kicking her legs around. It scared me something awful! I thought maybe she was having a seizure or something. I picked her up and picked the shavings off of her, and she acted normal. When I put her back in the brooders she went back to the same hole she had dug and did it again. Then she jumped up and shook off. Dust bath?
being a new chickie mom is so confusing!

 

[shakenbake]

Mine LOVE to. They usually don't start until they are 1-2 weeks old though. She sounds normal

 

[mboreham1]

yes totally they do! Its just their instincts

 

[CrazyMomOf2]

Wait til next week... mine are dusting themselves constantly!!!

 

[newchicksnducks]

LOL! yeah, she was just dust bathing. It's hilarious to see them in the spring/summer, laying in a patch of sun all stretched out...little bathing beauties!

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Yes. We had several 1 week old chicks do just this. We provide dirt for them so they can do it for real.

 

[gryeyes]

Yes, it's adorable ONCE YOU KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING! I, too, thought, oh NO, something awful has happened! (They were my first chicks, and I'd had no previous chicken experience.)

I also love to watch them do the Chicken Dance as they scratch in the pine shavings in the brooder. However do they learn to do that stuff! No Big Chickens to show them the way. Amazing.

 

[flgardengirl]

Mine do it too. They look like they are break-dancing in the pine shavings. One lays there and does it and all the others run up to it and eat the little bits of shavings that land on its feathers. All that shaving eating makes me a little nervous but it doesn't seem to bother them any.

 

[AndreaS]

Woohoo! What a relief!

 

[Dinkydoodle]

My three week old babies to it too !! SOOOO Funny to watch