Weird scratching!?

[JBirchall]

Recently my chooks have been scratching and making holes in the grass that they then lay in.
Normally this wouldn't worry me, except they have a dirt pit that they usually do their scratching/sleeping in.
Should this change worry me? Or does it mean something?

 

[rancher hicks]

What is a "chook"?

 

[JBirchall]

30 chickens

 

[rancher hicks]

Is there a different term for 10, 20, 40, 50 chickens. And what if you hatch some chicks, do you have to stop calling them chooks?

In answer to your question, no. Mine have hole everywhere they decide to dust and roll around. They especially like over the septic tank, cuz it warm and dry all the time. Even when it 's rains it dries fast. No grass over it since I had it cleaned.

 

[JBirchall]

Is there a way to stop this? Because it's making the ground very uneven and hard to maintain.

 

[Red&Yellow]

No, the behavoir is natural and good for them...I'm assuming you mean they are rolling around in the dirt? They're dustbathing.

Oh, and rancher hicks, a chook is a chicken.

 

[Iheartmyhens]

Chickens will destroy any vegetation they have access to-my 6 pullets have pretty much taken out all the overgrown weeds in our approx. 20ft by 40ft sideyard, & they have been there only 3 months.

Any place you don't want to have dug into for some nice bowls for dustbaths, it's best not to give them access to...

 

[A.T. Hagan]

They're dust bathing which is a perfectly natural behavior for a chicken. If you don't want them to scratch holes in the yard then provide them with a shallow box about eighteen inches or thereabouts on the side filled with dry sand.

.....Alan.

 

[Fenn]

All chickens do this? Ah. How do you have free range chickens if they dig up all the grass? Is there a thread about doing this?

 

[A.T. Hagan]

They don't dig it all up. They'll get a favorite spot or two going and use those.

.....Alan.