Unterrupted mud bath

In the video clip below, you will see a wild female pheasant having a mud bath under some hedges. She then has to stop to leave space for my two hens Holly and Hazel. I have noticed that pheasants, particularly female pheasants, like to use my hens' mud baths (yes, they do have a few "self-made" baths dotted around the garden - unfortunately for me really because the mud baths become rather unsightly and messy deep little craters). My theory is that pheasants think it is a safe place to go. Wouldn't you agree?

In this post, you will find my nicest pictures showing my three hens mud bathing.

A mud bath for chickens

When having a mud bath, chickens use their wings to flip the mud onto their bodies, feathers all fluffed up to expose as much skin as possible.
Hazel having a mud bath:

 They also roll from head to tail. Below is what I managed to capture. The chicken is not actually sleeping with its head on the ground, this picture is an action shot.

 

Some pictures of Willow now:

Please Hazel, my turn to have a bath!

 


Hummmm! Loving it!

Great! That was fun!

 

Righ! Time to go! Let's shake the mud off now!

 And finally, Holly is doing it too:

Shake, shake, shake!