Why chickens scratch the ground: A more complex behavior than you may think
If you’re new to chickens, one of the first things you may notice is their characteristic scratching on the ground. Actually, it’s quite adorable to watch, as you can see in the video below:
They typically peck at the ground in front of them first, then step on top of that spot and scratch the surface underneath. They don’t look at the ground while they’re scratching – they really couldn’t see it anyway because they scratch with their legs positioned under their bodies, rather than extending a leg out to scratch in front of them.
So why do chickens scratch the ground? Chickens scratch the ground to forage for food beneath the surface, for dust bath preparation, nest arrangement, and social interaction. Scratching also helps keep a chicken’s nails short.
Scratching behavior, seemingly so simple, actually plays a complex role in a chicken’s health and social life. It’s one of the fundamental behaviors that makes a chicken a chicken. A good understanding of your chickens’ scratching behavior can even help you to bond with them!
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Scratching to forage
Scratching the ground is a behavior that is innate to chickens. Whenever I bring day old chicks home from a local hatchery, the first thing they do when I put them in their brooder is climb onto the food container and scratch around in it. They do this before ever witnessing another chicken do it.
Similarly, one of the first things rescued battery hens will do when they are allowed to venture outdoors is scratch the ground, despite never having witnessed this behavior.
Scratching behavior is instinctual in chickens because it was essential for the survival of their non-domestic ancestors. Most of what these birds ate, such as insects and seeds, was found just beneath the ground surface. Scratching was their means of unearthing this grub. Free-range chickens (and their wild brethren, the jungle fowl) still enjoy this foraging practice today.
Scratching for dust bath prep
Another important purpose of scratching the ground is dust bath preparation. A dust bath is a chicken’s means of keeping his feathers in good condition and protecting himself against external parasites like mites and lice. To take a dust bath, a chicken will roll around in the dirt, rub parts of his body on the dirt, and throw dirt all over himself. Pictured here is my rooster, Champ, enjoying a dust bath.
Chickens will usually choose to dust bathe in loose dirt and may scratch around in it a bit before settling in for the full body dirt treatment. However, if there is no loose dirt (or other sediment-sized medium) available, chickens will scratch around on hard ground until they have scratched up enough loose dirt for a bath. This may take several hours, and they may work on and off for several days to get the dust bath spot just right.
Scratching for nest building
Chickens will also exhibit scratching behavior when either building a nest or settling into one. If they are building a nest outside, they will scratch around on the ground until they make a comfortable spot to lay in (often lining it with grass and feathers).
They also tend to scratch around in the coop nest boxes before laying an egg. Some of them will get up several times during the laying process to scratch the bedding around some more.
The purpose of this behavior is to get the nesting material in a position that’s comfortable to them and that will also keep their eggs (and any others’ eggs sitting in the nest box) beneath their bodies in the ideal position for incubation. They exhibit this behavior while laying eggs even if they have no intention of incubating the eggs.
In fact, even roosters will display scratching behaviors in nesting sites. I first witnessed this with my first flock of chickens. As the pullets began approaching the age of lay, one of my roosters, Perly, would hop in and out of the nest boxes making the same sounds he makes when calling the hens over to food. He would scratch around in the nest boxes and lay down in an egg laying position. It looked as though he was trying to show the girls that he had found a good place for them to nest.
Scratching for social interaction and bonding with other chickens
An often overlooked purpose for scratching behavior in chickens is social interaction and bonding. Chickens are highly social animals. If you’ve ever taken the time to really observe a flock, they move around together in groups all day, softly clucking and seemingly chatting to each other.
They preen together, bathe together, rest together, and, yes, scratch together. All of these activities are not just necessary for chicken health but are social activities. If one chicken starts dust bathing, others will come join her. If one starts preening, a bunch will follow suit.
These activities are some of the major ways that chickens interact and bond with each other. Chickens form strong ties during these daily performances. They exhibit strong preferences for the other individuals with whom they perform these activities, and some show distress behavior if one of their flock mates is removed.
Relationships are built and maintained through participation in scratching and other daily behaviors with the flock.
Scratching for social interaction and bonding with humans
Chickens will also start to perform these behaviors (scratching, preening, resting, bathing) next to (or even on top of) human caretakers who spend a lot of time with them. As your chickens become more and more familiar with you and start to trust you, you will find them implementing these behaviors closer and closer to you. Finally, many will do them right next to you, close enough for you to touch them.
I even have several chickens who like to crawl in my lap and scratch around on my pants (don’t wear shorts- it hurts!). Once you develop friendships with them, you will likely have some that prefer to follow you everywhere and would rather perform their behaviors in your vicinity than with other chickens.
I’ve also found that the roosters who like me will vigorously scratch and make food-type calls as soon as they see me or hear my voice. If I’m sitting down, they will approach me with this behavior and then continue scratching by my side. They also scratch and call very dramatically when I’m walking away as if to say, “Come back and spend time with me—we can scratch and forage together!”
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out… and scratch the ground!
Dr. Joseph Barber from the University of Pennsylvania, notes that chickens typically will scratch the dirt with their right foot first and then will alternate their feet. He thinks this may actually have a practical purpose. The right foot is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain, and in chickens, the left hemisphere is superior at discerning objects, such as recognizing food as distinct from dirt or rocks.
Dr. Barber thinks that if food is scratched up by the right foot, then the right eye should see it first and better help the chicken to immediately recognize it as a tasty morsel.
What happens if a chicken is unable to scratch the ground?
A rescued battery hen scratches the ground and forages.
Chickens raised in battery cages are unable to practice their natural scratching behavior. The cages are too small and are packed full of too many hens so that there is not enough room for scratching. Most battery operations do not have bedding on the cage floor and so the chickens don’t have any material in which to scratch.
Chickens who are not able to scratch tend to feather pick and also to peck and bite their cage mates. Feather picking is when chickens rip out the feathers of their fellow chickens (and sometimes themselves), which can be very painful.
Cannibalism is often the result when chickens begin pecking and biting each other. Chickens are attracted to blood, so once one is wounded, the others may eat her flesh, which can lead to serious injury or death.
Another problem for chickens who are unable to scratch is that they are unable to keep their toenails short. Many battery hens grow toenails that are so long they end up curling underneath their feet. Toenails this long make it difficult if not impossible to walk. Sadly, battery hens don’t have enough space to walk in their cages anyway.
The terrible treatment of factory farm hens (and what I’ve described here is only the tip of the iceberg) is the main reason I started keeping my own chickens. I had bought grocery store eggs my entire life and finally decided I just couldn’t support that system anymore. I took home my first flock of chickens and I’ve never looked back. May they scratch happily for all their days. May yours do so as well!
You may also be interested in:
Sources
Appleby, Michael et al. Poultry Behavior and Welfare: Boston: CABI Publishing, 2004.
Barber, Joseph, ed. The Chicken: A Natural History. Princeton: Quarto Publishing, 2017.
Nicol, Christine J. The Behavioral Biology of Chickens. Boston: CABI, 2015.
