Odd Behavior! Anyone Else Seen This?

[loralei]

I switched from hay to wood shavings in our nesting boxes and my hens really seem to like them! They have stopped using the boxes as toilets and have actually started laying in the boxes (I used to find eggs on the floor of the coop)! A couple days ago I went out to the coop to gather eggs and one of the hens was in a box wiggling around covering herself in shavings! I caught another one today almost completely burried! Has anyone else seen their hens do this?

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Do your chickens have access to soft dirt or sand? Sounds to me like she's trying to take a dust bath.

 

[cnj-tx50]

I use wood shavings and they seem to move. cover and sort in the boxes!!

 

[loralei]

They have sand and dirt galore and they bathe like crazy in it! lol! I think they are shy about laying and don't want me or the others to see! Maybe I should make curtains for the boxes!

 

[posey]

Quote:
We use wood shavings on the coop floor and when I change out the shavings and put in fresh, they do the same thing. It's like dust bathing only in the shavings.

However, I know about the shy laying thing.
I made a duplex nest box out of wooden file folder holders from an old desk.
I did it very 'throw together' because my first two hens decided to lay on the same day.
I call it the Egga Cabana

The tarp over the top gives them some privacy and keeps them from standing on the sides of the box and pooing into it.
Chickens, gotta love em, and we do.