Dustbathing is a highly motivated behavior in chickens that is systematically prevented in most commercial egg production systems, causing chronic frustration.
Dustbathing is not a peripheral behavior for chickens - it is a daily activity performed with apparent pleasure that serves important maintenance functions. When hens cannot dustbathe, they experience the chronic frustration of a motivation they cannot satisfy. This is a form of suffering that is invisible to consumers but measurable in welfare science. The transition from battery cages to enriched colonies was partly driven by dustbathing welfare concerns, but enriched systems only deliver on this promise when litter quality and access are adequately maintained.