Environmental enrichment for poultry addresses the gap between what commercially kept birds can do and what their evolved behavioural repertoire motivates them to do. Evidence-based enrichment reduces welfare problems and improves welfare outcomes across poultry systems.
Chickens, turkeys, and other poultry are highly motivated foragers — in natural conditions, they spend 50–70% of their active time in foraging, scratching, and pecking behaviours. This motivation is maintained in commercial conditions whether or not appropriate outlets are available. When appropriate outlets are absent, foraging motivation is redirected onto pen mates (feather pecking, cannibalism) and inappropriate substrates. Enrichment provision addresses this by providing appropriate foraging outlets.
Dustbathing is a highly motivated, highly specific behaviour in chickens — birds perform the complete dustbathing motor sequence regardless of substrate availability, even on wire floors (vacuum dustbathing). This indicates the behaviour is internally motivated rather than purely environmentally triggered. Providing loose substrate (wood shavings, sand, peat) in sufficient quantity for multiple birds to dustbathe simultaneously dramatically increases welfare outcomes. RSPCA Assured and higher-welfare standards require suitable dustbathing substrate.
Perching is a strong innate motivation in poultry — chickens and turkeys roosted ancestrally in trees to avoid ground predators. Providing perches that chickens can actually reach and use (appropriate height, diameter, and spacing) supports natural sleep behaviour and reduces welfare anxiety. Evidence shows perch use is associated with better bone strength (reducing osteoporosis), improved feather condition, and reduced ground-level injuries. Perch design matters — round perches at appropriate diameter, placed at height that birds can reach, away from feed and water.
Hanging pecking objects (compact fluorescent lights wrapped in tape, hanging CDs) provide novel visual stimuli and investigation opportunities but do not substitute for foraging substrate. Supplementary feed items — corn scattered in litter, whole grain provided in feeders — increase foraging activity. Lucerne bales, straw bales, and hanging vegetation provide pecking and exploration opportunities with evidence of reduced feather pecking incidence.
In free-range systems, many chickens never venture beyond a few metres from the house. Improving range use — through provision of cover (trees, artificial shelters), range enrichment (dustbathing areas, food items), and appropriate flock size — provides substantial welfare benefits for the birds that use the range. Tree planting programmes on free-range farms are now incentivised through Countryside Stewardship payments for dual environmental and welfare benefits.
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