Poultry Behaviour & Routines

As with any animal species, backyard poultry have their own preferences for how they like to spend their day and routines they like to follow. The more we can do to meet their needs, the less likely they will be to develop behavioural and medical problems that prevent them from having a positive experience of life.

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Social Dynamics

Chickens are social creatures and prefer to live in the company of other birds. There is a clear social hierarchy in their groups known as the pecking order, a term that was coined through watching more dominant birds put lower ranking birds in their place by giving them a painful peck with their beak.

Every member of the flock has their own position in the hierarchy. The most dominant bird receives the most privileges such as getting first access to food and having the first choice of prime locations in their environment like nesting boxes, roosts, and dustbaths.

 In flocks with both roosters and hens, there will be a hierarchy structure for both males and females with the alpha rooster taking the overall top spot.

Chickens can be merciless when it comes to maintaining their social order.  Reminders can range from a gentle peck to a life-threatening wound.  These cannibalistic behaviours are not common in a socially healthy flock that is kept in an appropriate environment.  Where you tend to see problems arise is when birds are under stress.  This can happen with:

  • Overcrowding in the coop and run
  • Not enough access to food and water for everyone
  • Introducing new birds into the flock
  • Lights that are kept on for more than 16 hours per day
  • Boredom from being cooped up without enrichment activities

Birds also have a tendency not to like other birds that look visually different from them.  Flocks that have multiple age groups or multiple breeds with different sizes, colours, and feather patterns are more likely to have problems with aggressive behaviours.

Daily Routine

Like most animals, chickens prefer having a regular daily routine. This can be divided into five main phases:

1. Waking Up

For most chickens, a typical day starts by waking up at sunrise.  Chickens that are closed in their coop overnight usually want to be let out shortly after they wake up.  They can easily become bored or frustrated if they are left inside for too long, which can lead to behavioural problems like aggression towards other birds, egg breaking, and egg eating.  If you are unable to let the chickens out in time, you may want to consider installing an automatic coop door. 

As soon as the coop door is opened, the chickens will tend to rush out in pecking order and start looking for breakfast since they are hungry and thirsty after not eating overnight. This is a great time to provide them with fresh food and water.

2. Laying Eggs

After they finish eating and drinking, it’s normal for hens to return to the next boxes inside the coop to lay their eggs. Most hens seem to prefer laying eggs around mid-morning (about 2 to 6 hours after sunrise) although some may lay eggs earlier or later in the day. You may want to avoid collecting eggs early in the morning since hens don’t like to be disturbed on the nest.

Nesting

When hens search for a covered nest in a quiet secluded place to lay their eggs.

3. Keeping Busy

Chickens will generally spend most of their day foraging for any food they can find in their environment including insects, snails, worms, berries, seeds, and grass shoots. 

You will also notice chickens dustbathing and preening to maintain their feathers. Feathers get out of shape and their waterproof qualities become less effective, so chickens use their beaks to ‘preen’ feathers back into shape and to apply oil from their preen gland at the base of the tail. Chickens regularly dustbathe when they can find the right dry dirt to bathe in. Dust bathing helps to remove debris and parasites from under a chicken’s feathers and from their bodies and keeps them clean. 

If the temperature is too hot, chickens will naturally seek out shady locations.  If the weather is too cold or wet, they will tend to huddle together under whatever shelter is available.

Foraging

When chickens scratch or peck at the ground to hunt for food items. They will behave like this in any environment they are placed in.

Gentle Pecking

When chickens gently peck at other chickens feathers which can be done for grooming or exploration.

Preening

When chickens use their beak to reposition and clean feathers, remove parasites, and waterproof the feathers by distributing preen oil from the uropygial gland at the base of the tail

Dust Bathing

When chickens roll around, scratch, and flap their wings in dirt to coat their feathers and skin. This helps remove excess oil and make conditions less favourable for ectoparasites

Perching

When birds sit on objects away from the ground or litter. The higher the bird is perching, the more likely it is to be trying to escape from other birds

4. Settling Down

Chickens have very limited night vision and prefer to roost in protected areas overnight to keep themselves safe.

During the day, you might notice them foraging closer and closer to the coop to make sure they have easy access to it after sunset. Most owners will choose to lock the chickens back inside the coop overnight to prevent injury or predation.

Chickens store food in their crops as they eat where it softens up for digestion. Feeding chickens before they go into roost enables this process to happen while they sleep and actually helps to keep them warmer in winter.  Most laying hens will drink about 25% of their daily water intake during this time so it’s important to make sure fresh water is available.

5. Getting Sleep

Once inside the coop, chickens will generally go to roost and then sleep throughout the entire night.

Roosting

When chickens rest or sleep on branches, wooden beams, or poles above the ground.

Seasonal Variations

Your flock’s normal routines and behaviours will change across the year with the seasonal changes in daylight hours and outside temperatures. 

  • In mid-summer, your chickens will want to start their day as early as 5:30am with sunrise and stay up late until around 9:00pm with sunset. 
  • In mid-winter, your chickens will want to start their day later at 7:45am and go to sleep earlier at 5:00pm.

You will need to adjust the times you let them in and out of the coop accordingly.

Daylight hours

Chickens need at least 12-14 hours of light and 6-8 hours of dark to lay at their maximum capacity of producing an egg every 20-26 hours. In the southern hemisphere, most chickens will stop laying eggs completely over the winter period from around late March to early June while they are going through their annual moult.  As the daylight hours start increasing again in late June, they will start to laying eggs again. The peak period for egg production is usually from August through December.  You may notice that more broody breeds of chicken start to produce fewer eggs over the summer months from November to January.

Summary of changes in daylight hours in New Zealand and relation to egg production

Temperature

The climate in New Zealand tends to be relatively mild, but temperature extremes across the year can also have an impact on egg production.  Chickens are happiest when the outside temperature is around 21°C (70 °F) and will produce the most eggs when they are in their temperature comfort zone of 12°C (50 °F) to 26°C (80 °F).  Usually when it gets below 3°C (40 °F) or above 37°C (100 °F), chickens will stop laying completely unless they are moved to a temperature-controlled environment.

Temperature ranges preferred by chickens for optional egg production

If the temperature is too cold, chickens are at risk of getting frostbite, especially if the inside of their coop is very humid.  If the temperature is too hot, chickens are at risk of heat stroke because they can’t sweat like we do to cool themselves down.

Summary

Chickens are creatures of habits who like to start their day at sunrise and make it back to bed just before sunset. During the day, they need plenty of opportunities to engage in normal behaviours like foraging, egg-laying, perching, preening, and dust-bathing. As the seasons change, we need to make sure we adjust the times we provide care and create comfortable environments that allow them to be happy, healthy, and produtive across the entire year.