Dustbathing is a fundamental behavioral need in chickens that is strongly motivated and frustration of which causes significant welfare harm in systems that do not provide appropriate substrate.
Dustbathing is a textbook example of a strongly motivated natural behavior whose frustration demonstrates welfare harm. Hens performing vacuum dustbathing on wire floors demonstrate that the motivation is so strong it cannot be suppressed even when substrate is absent — the behavior is performed incompletely and unsatisfyingly. Providing appropriate loose substrate that allows full dustbathing sequences satisfies this fundamental need. The welfare science of dustbathing contributed significantly to the policy case for banning battery cages. It remains a key indicator of whether housing systems adequately meet hen behavioral welfare needs.