Understanding the full repertoire of natural chicken behaviors is essential for designing housing systems that genuinely support their welfare.
Chickens have a rich behavioral repertoire shaped by millions of years of evolution that conventional commercial housing systems systematically frustrate. Foraging behavior that occupies most of the natural day is entirely absent in bare environments. Dust bathing, critical for feather and skin maintenance, cannot be performed on wire or slatted floors without litter. Roosting at height, driven by predator avoidance instincts, is impossible in single-level systems. Nest seeking and laying are major motivational states in laying hens that are thwarted by cage systems. Understanding the full range of behavioral needs provides the evidence base for housing systems that genuinely support welfare rather than merely preventing the most acute suffering.