What is your favorite dust bath mixture?

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I've read quite a few of these and it seems clear I need to get some DE and coarse sand for the dirt bath. Now...I've got two week and one week old chicks in a brooder. Should I make a bath for them now or wait til they're in the coop? If now, should it just be a small one in some kind of dish or shallow container?
 
ADVaughn said:
I've read quite a few of these and it seems clear I need to get some DE and coarse sand for the dirt bath. Now...I've got two week and one week old chicks in a brooder. Should I make a bath for them now or wait til they're in the coop? If now, should it just be a small one in some kind of dish or shallow container?
Click to expand...
Yes, they will start using it from very young age. I just designated a bit of floor space as the place I put their dust. They played and played in it, used it all up, and whenever I refreshed would immediately start using it again. Another thing to consider is to bring in a piece of sod with dirt and grass/weeds. It really helps them with probiotics and their need to scratch.
 
The clump of sod is what I prefer. Not a fan of DE, after being a huge fan of it at first. Anything that is so hard on human lungs is going to be even harder on a chicken's lungs.
 
This was probably answered already but can I use the sand from the beach? I have top soil and peat moss already, was just gonna mix it all together with sand from the beach and a cup of DE food grade. Is this a bad idea?
 
terryg said:
I keep a kitty litter box half-filled with coarse sand (bought at a lumber yard - not the fine playground sand) and a cup of food-grade DE. Food grade DE isn't as sharp as the agricultural DE and is fine for the chickens to bathe in and peck at. The food grade DE is made from lake diatoms. The agricultural from ocean diatoms.
My chickens also have dust bath areas in their run, but having the kitty litter box ensures that even when the run is frozen or muddy, they can dust bathe.
Click to expand...
Do you have open litter cat litter boxes or ones with lids? Just wondering if they will get in the covered litter boxes.
 
I usually just dump some peat moss on the ground and let them spread it around. Wood ash is good so long as you know nothing toxic was burned. I was laughing today as my two broody hens took their 5 adopted chicks into the peat moss. The hens were digging, pecking, throwing the peat moss everywhere and the baby girls (ten days old) were trying to do the same. At one point a couple chicks got behind the hens and wound up nearly buried apart from their heads. They looks like they were all having the best time ever, aside from meal worm time.
 

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