Strange Behavior

[cdunmire66]

Today, I found two of my white leghorn chickens hiding under a bush and completely covered with dirt. They have a hole dug and are laying in it for hours. On a normal day, all five of my birds stick together. My hens are about 18 weeks old and have not started to lay yet. What would cause this behavior?

 

[Wyandottes7]

They are dust bathing. All chickens enjoy to dust bath (or at least dig in) loose dirt, wood shavings, wood chips, etc. They dig into loose earth, and sit in the hole, pushing dirt over themselves and just relaxing. This is perfectly normal behavior; you have nothing to worry about.

 

[cdunmire66]

Great, thanks! They do throw the pine chips out of their nesting boxes as if they don't like them in there but i have never seen them do this before. I'm glad to hear it is normal behavior. Thanks again

 

[Laying Ladies]

When my hens cant get out in the garden they love to take a dust bash in a mix of wood ashes (clean wood ash burned without lighter fluid or charcoal briquettes), construction sand and diotomatiuos earth. It's great for parasite prevention too.

 

[Laying Ladies]

When my hens cant get out in the garden they love to take a dust bash in a mix of wood ashes (clean wood ash burned without lighter fluid or charcoal briquettes), construction sand and diotomatiuos earth. It's great for parasite prevention too.

. Oops! Typo- meant to type "dust bath" not mash. Lol

 

[Laying Ladies]

In May, my 5 hens will be 3 years old. I'd like to get one or more Bantam hens and I wonder if it's possible to add them to my current flock or do I need to keep them seperate from my Buff Orpington & Americauna's? Any advice or experiences with this would be appreciated! Thanks!