Every mother hen is different. This one is a mover and a shaker. Some mothers don’t take their chicks out of the nursery until they are a week old. This one has them running around outdoors the day after they hatched.

When I see day old chicks exploring the great outdoors, running through grass, scratching the dirt, I chuckle at the environment enrichment efforts of large scale poultry farms. These efforts include adding string bunches for chickens to play with and sand boxes to use.

These day old chicks experience more enrichment in their first day of life than do most chickens do during their whole life, and they get a mother to boot.