They are digging to China!

[Mary_Ann]

My 7 girls are digging and digging and digging! I leave a box of sand for their dust bath and they would rather dig. Are there any solutions, tricks, answers to make them stop?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

How old are they? Where do they live?

 

[Mary_Ann]

5 of them are a 1 yr and two of them are only 6 mo. They live in the yard in a protected run and coop abut 14' x 20' in Baltimore Co., MD.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

My chickens dig too. They like to look for tasty treats in the ground and other times they are digging to dust bathe. It's normal.
I have a black, rubber tub that I put in our run this winter (when the ground got too hard for them to dig to dustbathe) and I put sand and soil in it for them. They loved it in the winter and some of them still like it now.
If they're digging some place that you don't want them to dig, then you'll have to prevent them from accessing it. But it's totally normal behavior, so don't be offended or worried that they're not using the special sand box you provided for them exclusively!

 

[Zahboo]

If there is a spot that mine are digging at badly then I bury wire there about 2inches below the surfeace and cover it back up.

 

[Annabella]

One of my girls digs deep too. sometimes her head is level with the lawn!!

But that's the deepest she goes then she stops, loves the spot for a week or two then goes looking for another spot.
I just fill them up when she is over them.

oh and she doesn't dig deep with every spot, just every now and then.

 

[Olive Hill]

Of course they're digging. They're chickens.

Holes are fun to sleep in, play in, dust bathe in, find treats in...

You think chicken holes are bad, come over and see the holes my turkeys dig.

 

[Zahboo]

Quote:
And they put them right in the walkways and then throw leaves in them so you twist the hoodlem out of your ankle! Not that it's um.... like happened to me last summer.... or anything

 

[math ace]

Mine have been digging like crazy too. I thought it was just because it has been HOT.

 

[Mary_Ann]

Thanks Everyone! Now I know it's normal - I can't even imagine how deep the turkey's dig

Mary Ann