Why are my chickens now taking dirt baths?

OlivenhainChickens

In the Brooder
11 Years
Dec 22, 2008
22
1
24
My chickens just yesterday started laying eggs. Hooray!

But now they are acting different than before.

They are now giving themselves dirt baths out in the dirt...and brooding together in that dirt.

Is this normal? What does this mean, since they've never done that before?

Thanks!
 
wow my chickens started that way early like at 2 and half weeks old in mole hills lol they loove them some mole hills lol i was scared theyd fall down the holes though so i kept close eye on them lol
 
Rejoice! They are being totally normal - taking dirt baths is their way of instinctually ridding themselves of tiny parasites. When my clucks did this it always made me smile because they seemed to be having so much fun.

Congratulations on the eggs!
 
Wow. Three replies in 5 minutes. I love it.
Now I feel better about our chickens taking these baths.
I was hoping that they weren't going to lay eggs there....which I don't think they will.

As for the eggs....yes we are one excited family with our eggs. 4 so far in two days. They are still pretty small...with two being brown and two white. Either way...my chickens are now starting to pay off...although very slowly.
 
What do you mean they are brooding together in the dirt.

When chickens go broody, it means they a sitting on clutches of eggs to hatch them and I don't think that's what they are doing if they just started laying yesterday. If you mean they are bringing dust into the nest boxes, that shouldn't be a big problem. Just freshen up the nests occasionally with fresh bedding.

Wayne
 
I shouldn't have used the word broody.

I mean they are cudding together in a small dirt hole they created.

That's all.

big_smile.png
 
Thats what I thought! Mine do that all the time. One scratches the hole and the rest all try to fit in it.

The birds found a bare spot of ground in front of the house where the snow melted away last weekend and they were in dust-bowl heaven. Today's snow storm eded that for a while.

Wayne
 
I love when they do that! I could watch them do that all day. Welcome to BYC!
 
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Hi, I just joined but couldn't help telling this story....I have a very old roosie and my son in law started helping me feed and water, claims he's been around chickens in a coop. Well...roosie got stuck upsidedown taking a dirtbath....he was in a little hollow and was just laying there with his feet and wicked looking spurs stickin straight up. SIL comes running to the house...sez, "roosies dead!!"

So I go out there and peer in....he's justa laying there with his feet in the air.... I started laughing at my SIL and said, ...."he isn't dead...he's just chilling"!!! That rooster was jest as quiet and still as could be.

So...I REACHED down real quick like and flipped him over....scared my SIL to pieces cause he thoughtthat roosie really was dead!

I had to explain a dirtbath to him and sure enough roosie did it again a few days later. I don't know how long he waits for someone to rescue him....or maybe he's just chillin...!
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cheeps
 

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