[sneezer]

Hi
after a difficult day at work I did what was best to 'wind down' and spent time watching the girls (the best tonic) and they were really getting into a rhythm with their scratching and i noticed that most of the time it was left leg one scratch right leg two then left leg and put head down to check at same time, (they did start with either leg but used specific legs to make it clearer)I was wondering who else has chickens with the same pattern or is it all chickens? just curious....

[nerdle]

This makes me smile   A bit like the  blue poo thread I love that we can express our chicken observations to a keen audience (stuff that non hen persons might not undestand the importance of)!  Will be watching mine next time although she stands still lot these days - getting older/moulting......she might need a kind of henny pick-me-up........

[8doubles]

It makes me chuckle when they go into `Auto Scratch Mode' on a hard surface when eating out of a dish !

I think it improves the flavour if they do it ! 

[Beano]

When one of mine is broody (which is most of the time) and I push her out of the coop, she goes into a sort of automatic scratch mode. She will scratch anywhere for a second or two then do a half turn scratch again then look up at me as if to say "there, can I go back in now?"
I love watching them scratch around and yes they are a tonic, especially during stressfull times.

[YoungChickenLover]

Even when eating from the Grandpa feeder, my girls will occasionally stop and scratch then keep eating as if they're foraging ! Chickens are such a tonic for stress. During exam weeks, in between revision I usually spend time with the girls then down the lane to a friends farm to be around the cows and pigs!! The best stress buster ever

[orchardlady]

Mine do Line Dancing

[nerdle]

OK

Two left one right - inspect the ground
Two right one left - inpect the ground - had enough of this - I'm off!


She's not big on scratching!

[Willow_Warren]

I can't say I have noticed a particular routine to their scratching, but I'll be sure to try and observe another day!  Sometimes I'd quite hard to notice what are doing when it's just one big pile of 5 chickens!

I was quite comical watching my new girls learn to scrath last year, seemed to take them a while to get the hang of it... kind of scratched each other rather than the earth for a while!

Hannah 

[sneezer]

great replies, keep watching!

[Lindeggs]

When my hens are broody they do a manic scratch quite different from their foraging scratch. 

The broody hen will run out of the coop, scratch the ground madly as if she's on fast-forward, run to the feeder and eat, have a huge drink, do a giant poo, then run back into the coop, the whole time saying "bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok."

Funniest thing ever.