Can I "make" a dust bath?

You can have a dust bath indoors too, if you have a spot in the coop that is suitable. This one is a simple pine box under a platform, I chose this spot to keep the sand contained as much as possible. It's about 30"x18"x7". I'd make it 12" high if doing it again. With one indoors they will dust themselves frequently. I used play sand and about 4 cups of food-grade diatomaceous earth.

You may be surprised how your hens manage to dig in stony ground, though! And it keeps their nails filed.
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Yeo, I used washed play sand so I started out without pests. I was lucky and had 'new ground' for the coop, so I'm careful not to bring anything into the cop/run unless it's pristine.
They are hilarious, keeps them busier than ever!
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washed... good to know. we have lots of moisture and mold around here so getting that sand out there to keep that soil drainage up just became high priority with all of this NE snow. and i guess indoor dust bath will be next...
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I was wondering if you could use sawdust? I have normal ground for them to graze but they only dust bathe in the coop in the shavings instead if digging down through the grass to the dirt so should i make a place for them or let them do what they want?
 
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I dont htink you would want to use purely DE, but you can mix it with other sand/material. I just find their usual dust bathing pits and toss a good coating of DE right into the hole. They dont seem to mind it and keep using the same spot, so I guess it works for them to do it that way around here.

I see that is your first post, so ------>
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I live very near the Gulf of Mexico (no oil in South Texas on the beaches) and its pretty sandy here so I just used sand from my yard to put in my brooder. It was only about 1/2" but they really liked it:
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