Do you keep chickens for eggs or as pets?
When I lived on 5 acres I had a dozen Brown Layer Pullets
The chickens would roam around the acreage and come running when I called them.
I loved to watch the chickens being chickens.
When chickens start to feel a little bit dirty, they will dig a shallow ditch in dry, loose materials, dirt, sand etc in which they will burrow and throw the dirt over themselves.
They will do this until the dirt has coated their feathers and is settled down to their skin- where it is believed to absorb excess moisture and oil, and clog the breathing pores of parasites that may have found their way onto the chicken. They will then stand up and shake out all the dirt.
Then they proceed to preen themselves before getting on with their usual chicken business. Chicken Dust Bathing
I got too close to one of my chickens once and she pecked my eyeball, Bruising it for a few days…
Each chook laid an egg a day so I gave most them to my neighbours.
They were our First Chickens ever…
Was a real learning curve as being a Townie I had never ever had anything to do with chickens apart from eating them.
Their clucking and the sound of a rooster early in the morning always reminds me of childhood school holidays when we visited our gran in the East Anglian countryside. Nowadays some plot holders at the allotment also keep chickens and the sound provides a very restful and calming background. As has been said, they are also good to eat and how would we manage without the eggs?
As I had the mixed blessings of a suburban childhood, I did not have the pleasure of knowing chickens very well. The dust bathing is most interesting and I appreciate the education!
