[Cluckyclaire]

Hello all

Do all your chooks dust bathe? Have had my girls a month today and the two sisters dig great holes in the flowerbeds roll about but Martha (who I think is top peck order girl) has never done this, she also never lays down like the others and is not as rowdy, there had been no change in her an she is healthy eating and drinking and preening as usual, was just interested to see if others have experienced this with any of their hens

Cheers

Claire

[ANHBUC]

Hi Claire,  All of mine dust bathe and there is always a fight for the best dug out hole.  They just muscle in until the other one gets out.  I have had three trying to squash in all at once when it is nice and sunny.  They were having fun this morning dust bathing but we have had hail that has laid now so they are not impressed.   

[grinling]

My 3 have taken to dust bathing under the fir hedge next to the fruit patch!!! Need to fence it off to protect fruit.

[Mrs Bee]

Out of my 10 girls some do some don't. Chickens are like people, they all have their own funny little ways. It just makes life interesting

[Cluckyclaire]

  their little ways are funny, they have such different personalities, the two sisters crush each other and Ella rolls about so funny watching them, today i am sure i could hear them making a kind of whistling/purring noise? it was tipping with rain and they were under the california lilac keeping dry digging nice deep soilbath and shovelling soil out of the onto the patio, so i guess that makes me the nutter out in the rain watching them

[Mrs Bee]

Yep, you've got it real bad Claire, chickenitus Just like the rest of us.

Those chickens are real time wasters. Good for stress bustin tho'

[Cluckyclaire]

I only get half hour in morning and weekends with them as i work full time, probably just as well i would be in the garden all day , cannot wait for the evenings to be light so i can see them in the evenings too yes they are good for stress i agree, i was gardening for 5 hours today the time just flew by, just need to train them to dig where i need them to and help me out! half the bulbs have been replanted where they keep digging them up and they have tucked into the peonies too, gonna need to get some exclusion zones out there 

[Mrs Bee]

When we let our girls out in the garden,before the big fox scares
OH made a moveable net fence with bamboo canes and garden netting which we could move around as needed, so the grass got a rest and they were excluded from the tomatoes and the salad patch 

It worked most of the time except when they pushed against it and made it saggy and when Nutty was alive she would find any way out and I would find them noshing into my tomatoes  or round my ankles when putting out the washing:lol: Then it was a merry hour rounding them up and putting where they were meant to be

I love my girlies but not enough to let them trash the garden

Eglu do a similar contraption to our moveable fence. Probably fairly pricey tho'

[Cluckyclaire]

Yes that sounds a good idea, will get some mesh panels or that green wire fencing so they will hopefully leave me some of my plants! Ella seems to gorge all day much more than the other two she is getting quite a barrel!

[Rangerkris]

Do you have a covered area for dust bathing in the coop/pen or just let them make there own when the ground is dry enough?

[Cluckyclaire]

They dig their own baths and have an area under the pen they can dig in when earth dry enough, work gonna start soon on a bigger pen have drawn up a plan, and will let them have one of the flower beds for the dust baths, they all seem happy enough was just surprised Martha does not seem interested like the others

[nerdle]

I picked up a garden sieve the last time I was at the tip so I can make a fine loose soil zone for her.  The sparrows like a dust bathe too - lots of little tell-tale dents on the flower bed...