Another interesting behavior of chickens is their bathing habits. They hate getting wet, but they sure do love a dust bath. Wherever there is loose soil - or even loose litter - on the floor of the coop, you will find chickens bathing.
Chickens scratch out a body-sized depression in the soil and lie in it, throwing the soil from the hole into their fluffed-out feathers and then shaking to remove it. They seem very happy when doing this, so it must feel good. In nature, this habit helps to control parasites.
In the garden or lawn, these dust-baths bowls can be quite damaging, but there is little to do about it except put up a fence. If your chickens are confined all the time , they'll really appreciate a box of sand to bath in.
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