This afternoon, the chickens decided to beat the heat with a good, old-fashioned dust bath. Both Peggy and Tina dug themselves some shallow holes and got busy flopping around in the dirt. Ever the vigilant chicken chronicler, I whipped out my camera and got some action shots.
And, I also made a little video, so you can see what a genuine chicken dust bath looks like. Tina was really getting into hers, flinging dirt all over herself for at least 20 minutes.
Chicken Dust Bath from Audrey on Vimeo.
She makes a funny happy chicken noise around 1:10. See if you can hear it.
My chickens used to do that a fair bit and you are right, it is related to the heat. I found that when I moved my chicken coop to a shadier area they stopped doing it quite as much.
I don't think it is a real problem if your chooks enjoy a dust bath but when building from you chicken coop plans, it is important to make sure it provides shade and if possible the chicken coop itself should be in a shady area.
Oh, I don't think it's a problem at all if my chickens take a dust bath. It's natural, and I think they really enjoy it.
True that chickens need lots of shade, especially here in Southern California. I think ours are pretty well set in that way. They have a roof on part of the coop and I'm growing a vine on one side to add more shade for next summer. In fact, they only dust bathe when they're free-ranging.