The aim of the current study was to develop a methodology to quantify ingestion of soil and of herbage by free-range layers and to evaluate the impact of nutrient restriction on this ingestion. Eight hundred Lohmann laying hens aged 21 weeks were equally divided between four experimental units consisting each in a 32 m 2 henhouse and a 2,840 m 2 grass/clover pasture. Two groups were fed a complete layer diet for 6 weeks (spring) and a diet of whole wheat with ground sea shells for the subsequent 6 weeks (summer), while the other two groups received the wheat diet first, followed by the layer diet. Feed and water were given ad libitum inside the henhouse. Hens had free access to fields. Measurements were performed during the last week of each experimental period. Whole-wheat depressed laying rate and egg weight by 61 and 19%, respectively compared to complete diet. It also increased the mean number of hens present on the outdoor run between 7 am and 9 pm (121 a 149 vs 72 a 90) and their distance to the henhouse (26 a 36 m vs 21 a 23 m). Analysis of insoluble ash and odd chain n-alkanes (C25 to C33) in droppings was used to estimate soil and herbage ingestion, respectively. In spring, hens consumed daily 111 g of complete diet and 83 g of wheat-based diet, while feed consumption in summer was 130 and 94 g, respectively. On a dry matter (DM) basis, hens on the complete diet ingested daily 5.6 to 8.1 g of herbage and 3.6 to 7.2 g of soil. Hens fed the wheat-based diet ingested less herbage (around 1.5 g DM per day), but higher amounts of soil, especially in spring, during which soil ingestion reached 15 to 30 g DM per day.