Our Black Australorp rooster just loves to sunbathe in the dirt. He shares a chicken house and aviary with 18 hens and five ducks. While the hens are feeding he patiently waits for them to finish their breakfast as he contemplates rooster things…
He’s thinking: First, I will position myself in a way that I can get some direct sunlight at the edge of the aviary. Second, I will dig myself a hole in the dirt and wallow around a little. Third, I will just relax as the girls have their meal. Ahh, life at the ranch is sublime.
Yes, especially as predation has dropped to zero when the aviary was constructed. Now, none of the flock have been decimated by owls and hawks. We loved seeing them free range, but there is a cost to that: predation. So although the flock cannot go wherever they want to go, they nonetheless have plenty of room to scratch in the dirt, play in the mud, and change scenery from the house to the aviary.
