Gardening Magazine

The Chicken Bath

By The Garden Smallholder @gdnsmallholder

hen taking a dust bath

Today the weather was sunny and warm, I watched with amusement some of the hens taking a dust bath in the sunshine, the empty veg beds and patch of bare earth near the fence the preferred places.

chickens dust bathing
chickens dust bathing

Rolling and raking the soil towards their bodies the hens soon take on a bedraggled appearance, completely unaware of anything going on around them as purring noises of sheer happiness fill the air.

chicken dust bath

dust bath
As soil showers them, occasionally hitting their eyes, I can’t help but wonder what goes on in their minds during a dust bath. They truly seem at peace with the world.

dustbathing

chicken
IMG_5021dustbathingresized

Chickens are handy soil sieves, the earth where they bathe raked to a fine tilth after a dust bath. After a good shake they soon fluff up again and look great, then go about their business happy as ever.


Filed under: Chickens Tagged: chicken dust bath, chickens dust bathing, chickens dustbathing, dust bath, dust bathing, dustbathing

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