«اِلْفَرْخَهْ دَايْمًا تِنْبِشْ وَلَوْ عَلَى صَلِيبِةْ غَلَّهْ»

A hen keeps scratching at the ground by instinct, even when it stands on a pile of grain with food plainly within reach. The image shows behavior continuing after its practical purpose has vanished, because the action has become part of the creature's nature.

Applied to people, the saying observes that deeply rooted habits persist regardless of changed circumstances. What someone has done long enough becomes second nature, so the behavior carries on by itself even when nothing around them requires it any longer.

Say it when someone keeps up a familiar behavior although their situation no longer calls for it. The remark points to how firmly a habit has settled into a person, treating the persistence as a matter of character rather than of present need.