Dominique Cleans Her Pen

Dominique lives in a 10'x10' dog pen. Her life consists of dust bath, scratching, and sitting. Since she is being denied the ability to forage or have a companion, she finds other things  to do.

When she takes a dust bath, she creates huge holes that cause me to lurch around like a drunk when I step in them. Most of the time she has filled a hole with the contents of the hole she just dug. Therefore, I step in extremely loose dirt that does not provide a stable footing even though it looks fairly solid.

All this scratching has also resulted in huge piles of fresh dirt on the outside of the pen. I assume this is very fertile soil. However, since I cannot dip it up, it just sits like dirt dunes. Lately, I can barely open the door. At times like this I truly realize how much exbf did for me when he could do these things.

When I go out to feed her, I carry her food in a used paper plate or bowl. One day, I went out and she had scratched every one of them into a pile about 2'x2'.  It was not quite that high. I hardly think this was an accident. However, I cannot quite place her making one pile of trash in the category of a purposeful action.

I didn't get a picture of the pile because I couldn't make another trip out there.  The next day, she had scattered them to the four corners of her pen. So, was this a game? Busy work?

Maybe I could train her to come indoors and be helpful. ???

Your turn
Do you chickens or pets seem to have a purpose to their actions or do they just seem to drag things about randomly?