Foraging is one of the most fundamental behavioural needs of chickens, consuming up to 80% of their waking time in natural conditions and severely curtailed in intensive systems.
Foraging deprivation in confined hens creates a welfare deficit that is both behavioural and motivational: the drive to scratch and peck is not eliminated by providing food ad libitum, because foraging satisfies an intrinsic need independent of hunger. Hens in barren environments direct these behaviours at each other (feather pecking) or perform stereotypic ground pecking on barren surfaces. The provision of litter, scattered grain, and foraging enrichment is one of the highest-impact welfare improvements available in commercial poultry.