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Effects of Dust Bath Design on Hen Behavior in New Aviary Systems in China
by
,
Zhihao Zhang
1,2,3,
Qian Zhang
1,2,3,
Jianying Xu
1,2,3,
Baoming Li
1,2,3,
Weichao Zheng
1,2,3 and 
Yang Wang
1,2,3,* 
1
Department of Agricultural Structure and Environmental Engineering, College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
2
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Engineering in Structure and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100083, China
3
Beijing Engineering Research Center on Animal Healthy Environment, Beijing 100083, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2025, 15(20), 2946; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15202946
Submission received: 16 September 2025
/
Revised: 8 October 2025
/
Accepted: 9 October 2025
/
Published: 10 October 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lower Ammonia in Animal Housing Systems, Better Animal Health and Improved Welfare)
Simple Summary
An important behavior of laying hens is dustbathing, which generally occurs in areas covered with litter. Extensive litter areas commonly used in aviaries can lead to reduced air quality and increased incidence of diseases, making them unsuitable for deployment in new large cage aviary unit systems. Using dust baths to provide dustbathing materials is a better option because they offer advantages in terms of continuous availability, but their design lacks unified standards. This study examined how different areas, shapes of dust baths, and depths of dustbathing materials affect the dustbathing behavior of hens. After increasing the dust bath areas, the daily proportion of dustbathing hens did not increase. Both the dust bath shape and the dustbathing material depth could affect the dustbathing expression. The hens exhibited better dustbathing behavior in circular dust baths and with 5 cm deep dustbathing materials. These findings can provide a basis for the design of dust baths in new aviary systems.
Abstract
Alternative housing systems for laying hens, such as the aviary, promote the expression of dustbathing behavior by providing substrate materials to improve their welfare. However, extensive litter areas in aviaries can lead to reduced air quality and increased incidence of diseases, making them unsuitable for deployment in new large cage aviary unit (LCAU) systems in China. Dust baths have advantages in terms of continuous availability, but their design lacks unified standards. This study explored the effects of different areas, shapes (circular and square), and substrate depths (1 cm, 5 cm, 9 cm) of dust baths on dustbathing behavior in LCAU systems by recording digital video. Each LCAU system was initially populated with 305 Jingfen No. 2 laying hens at 50 days of age. The dust baths were initially placed on the bottommost tier at 66 days of age. The results showed that after approximately 3 weeks of adaptation to dustbathing, the average daily proportion of dustbathing hens within the flock stabilized at approximately 10%. A 50 cm diameter circular dust bath could accommodate their dustbathing requirements. Increasing the number of circular dust baths to 2 did not significantly affect the daily proportion of dustbathing hens. Both the circular dust bath and a 5 cm depth substrate resulted in better expression of the hens' side rubbing behavior and the lower frequency of tossing behavior.
Keywords:
poultry; welfare; aviary; dustbathing; substrate depth
