[joules]

hi does any one know why my girls are trashing their bed? i clean it everyday and just recently they are pulling or kicking it out. I wondered if its because the ground is so hard from frost and all the snow we have

[joyfull]

no it's pretty normal behavior - you obviously didn't do it correctly 

[Kathie]

Season's Greetings folks 

Our girls did that  last week for the  first time in almost 2 years, I put it down to them not being satisfied with my clearing of the snow!! Never realised I had not made thier bed properly hehehe

[joules]

hi thanks for that i thought i had done it ok i take time over their beds even put in extra straw and shavings which they seemed to really like..i fuss to much im told but i like my hens to be happy even in this weather here in scotland  im getting 3 eggs a day (3 hens) been getting 4 eggs!!!!! oh well thanks again

[farmerGiles]

My hens started doing the same when the big freeze set in.

[bluemaran]

I think they are fooled into finding solid ground because of the snow---maybe?

[TeaPots]

I think they are busy rootling through to see if there is anything underneath thats edible. They cant scratch about so well in the frozen ground, and it is their favourite passtime, so they just rootle on through. I gave up using straw for this reason, as they were finding corn type kernal things amongst it, thus encouraging such untidy behaviour! For my adolescent Cream legbars  I put a thick layer of hemcore down, lift the lid of the coop, and close their door. They clamber in and out, and when they have finished rearranging their house, I open their door again.  It keeps most of the bedding inside anyway.