That's adorable.

I like a good roll in the dirt now and again to reduce parasite load, too.

Who doesn't, killdevil?

Part II: Chickpea gets jealous, has her own little dust bath.

Are those chickens for eating or egg-making? Is chicken-naming standard practice among chicken-keepers?

Most everything I know about poultry comes from having spent some time in Harrisonburg, VA, where Ralston-Purina disassembles thousands of them per minute. The whole town smells like dog food sometimes.

They're pets, killdevil. They do lay, but their primary purpose is to walk around the backyard and do funny stuff.

And I think chicken-naming is probably more common among chicken owners who aren't raising their dinner.

Yabut I've heard farmers, or perhaps maybe more likely their families, name various animals and then kill and eat them. But what do I know? I was a townie in a farm town that had a college so, you know, half rednecks and half academics, which was weird. Anyway, I remember boggling at my best friend as he fed his cow(s), which he later sold to market and made a surprisingly large amount of money from.

I do recall that cows are incredibly stupid.

I'm not claiming that chicken-meat farmers don't name their animals, kmellis. The "probably more common" was supposed to mitigate my assertion. Can't speak for everyone who owns a chicken, of course. :)

No, I got that—didn't mean to sound as if I was earnestly disagreeing with you. :)

There was an anthropological project in Britain years ago in which a group spent a couple of years living in the manner of the Iron Age -- they'd probably make it into a TV series called "The 400 AD House" now. One thing that had always puzzled archaologists about Iron Age huts is they always had this hollowed-out area in the dirt floor, always in a certain spot just inside the front door. They never knew what it was for; the usual speculation involved "religious significance", which is archaeologist-ese for "we don't know".

When archaeologists came to examine the site where people had been living in this recreation, to their astonishment, there was the hollowed out area in the dirt floor, just as they'd always seen it. When they excitedly asked "why did you do this here", the residents said oh, when the chickens come in they always take a little dust bath in that spot, and it's worn away quite an interesting little hollow, hasn't it?

That is just so amazingly cute I have no words, pup.

Thanks for getting the point, mgl! ;)

Spiggott, I know exactly what kind of "hollow" you're talking about. No patch of dirt is safe. Sometimes they dig down so far, they're below ground-level.

A friend of mine who keeps chickens said she was surprised at what strong personalities they have.

We watch sparrows take dust baths out back a lot here. The dirt divets are a lot smaller than chickiedoodle's. :D

Thanks for sharing, mups! I loves me some chickens (the mister thinks I'm weird).

We had a few for a while when I was growing up (five hens of various breeds and a banty rooster). One of my wishes is to have a big enough place to have a few.