playing with water

[DaniellePage]

Does anyone else have birds that play with their water?

I have experimentally switched from a deep litter to a sand based litter system in the coop.
A few weeks in to the new flooring, my Red hen has developed a very annoying habit of scooping up the water from the dish into her beak.
Now, instead of throwing it back and down the hatch she... get this...
moves her head from over the bowl, to the side and over the floor.
Drops her head down and "spits" out the water onto the floor.
She then watches it ball up and soak into the sand then... eats it.

Of course this makes a huge wet mess of the sand.

Thought it was peculiar and wanted to share and see if anyone else has birds with psychotic obsessive behaviors.

Will be making a nipple waterer soon to see if that helps.

 

[hotrodflash]

Maybe she needs grit in her crop? Just a thought.

 

[DaniellePage]

LOL. Maybe more so than regular

They get fermented feed mainly (has lots of sand in the feed - do they do that for filler or grit purpose?) and I put down granite grit in the coop and free choice and they get dirt time.

I think she is just nuts.

i will try to get a vid in the next few days.

 

[hotrodflash]

I don't think they add dirt/grit as filler. I could be wrong. She may just have some odd behaviors. Or maybe she just enjoys it,