Study: Chickens Need Trees

by Charlotte LoBuono

In the European Union, chickens and their eggs are considered to be free-range if the birds have access to the outdoors for at least eight hours per day.

Farmers know, however, that the chickens rarely leave the confines of their barn.

A recent study carried out by researchers at the University of Oxford in Great Britain suggests that this may be because chickens instinctively seek out shade. Therefore, a barnyard featuring a lot of shade may tempt free-range chickens to spend more time outdoors.

Photos taken by the investigators at commercial chicken farms in Lincolnshire revealed that only 15% of hens ever venture outside their barn at any one time.

However, if they had access to yards with a lot of shade provided by trees, the hens were much more likely to take a stroll outdoors.

In the study of 40 yards holding a total of 20,000 birds, chickens consistently sought the protection of foliage, the researchers discovered.

The researchers suggested that chickens may be following an ancestral urge when seeking out shade. The birds’ wild forebear, the red jungle fowl, avoided predators and the wind by seeking shelter in Asian bamboo forests.

Modern-day chickens may instinctively seek out trees to get the same degree of shade and protection.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.