Dustbathing behaviour of laying hens as related to quality of dustbathing material

Abstract The dustbathing behaviour of laying hens ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) is significantly influenced when either sand or woodshavings are offered as a dustbathing material. Hens that are familiar with both materials prefer sand over woodshavings as a dustbathing material. This preference is also indicated by the findings that hens increased their dustbathing behaviour when they had been transferred from woodshavings to sand, whereas a reverse treatment led to a temporary inhibition of dustbathing. For both substrates, short dustbaths (with a modal duration of up to 5 min) and long dustbaths (of 20–30 min) were found. The former corresponded to the introductory (tossing) phase of the latter (complete) dustbaths. The distributions of dustbath durations and the observations of dustbathing sequences suggest that woodshavings are less effective than sand. The efficiency with which feather lipids are removed when hens dustbathe either in sand or woodshavings after a 17-day dust deprivation supports this suggestion.