Dust bathing for chicks?

Hello fellow chicken keepers! I've been spending way to much time on this website- it's probably not healthy. Anyways, I have three week and a half old chicks In a cardboard brooder with pine shavings next to my living room. Lately, I've been noticing that they are doing some new things, mainly dust bathing. The girls have been digging into the pine shavings, crouching, and flapping they're wings really fast. Should I be providing something for them to do this in? Like what? I saw some fancy dust bathing powder at the store- do I really have to by that? Or can I just scoop up some light dust from outside? Today I saw some sparrows dust bathing in some dirt outside my house, so could I just use something like that? What should I put it in? Also, they have been perching- on my fingers, arms, fists, Eco glow, you name it. When should I provide a little roost? I'm not even sure how to go about making that, as my cardboard brooder is mighty small. Any ideas/suggestions would be very much appreciated, as I am a total chicken newbie.

Thanks everyone!

I put a roost in there at a little over one week. They love hopping up and over it and this past week (they are four weeks old on Saturday) I've come down to check on them before I go to bed and found a couple roosting on it! I used some sticks about 1.5' long, not wider in diameter than my fingers (not sure what that measurement is). I used zip ties and put two in there at right angles to each other so there's lots of real estate for them. It's high enough up that they can duck under them.

As for dust bathing, mine are just starting and I'm putting a mix of sand and diatomaceous earth in a dish in which they can wallow. I just haven't figured out what dish to use. I want something big enough that two or three of them can use it at the same time, but I don't have a ton of extra room in the brooder.

This is my first time, too! I'm having a blast, but there are so many things to learn (and I read and read and read before getting my chicks).

We have an old dresser that was going to the dump. I pulled the drawers out and I am using one for dust bathing and 4 others for planter boxes. Works great!

RenaG said:

We have an old dresser that was going to the dump. I pulled the drawers out and I am using one for dust bathing and 4 others for planter boxes. Works great!

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Awesome idea on recycling an old dresser! For both the dust bath and the planter boxes, both also happen to be projects I'm into doing right now, chickens and raised bed gardening.

As far as dust bathing advice, I guess I'm in need of some too. I put DE powder in a cleaned and disinfected large rock-like water dish we had for our lizard. I put it in their brooder at around 3ish weeks old when I saw them doing the same crazy wing flapping on the ground (after a brief heart attack, thought the were having little chickie seizures). They ate it, they eat everything. They walked through it. They pooed in it. Then went and took a nice pine shaving bath on the other end of their brooder. Kids. So I moved it over there and they still didn't get it. So I'm curious to see what advice people have. They're about 7weeks now, maybe i should try again. I saw a few of them taking a pine shaving bath the other day and I sprinkled the powder on em, felt kinda wrong like I was seasoning them, lol.

I need to do a dust bathing area as well. My chicks are 3.5-4.5 weeks old and I put in a roosting bar last week. I just found a piece of wood in the garage. All 5 like to roost and sleep on it. They will all get on and sleep in a row. It's so cute!
What sand do y'all use in the dust bath? I've read not to use play sand. ?

While my chicks are in the brooder (pine shavings) I usually start adding dirt from the coop area. This gives them something to peck at and something to play in. The pecking is good as it gives them some grit, and also helps expose them to the organisims in my particular soil, cocci and such. This helps them build early immunity and I rarely have cocci issues, even in the damp PNW.

Plain ol dirt is best for dust bathing. I dump my wood ashes in the winter for them to use, don't know if it's why but I've never had external parasites on my birds.

I thought the DE powder was bad for their lungs? I don't use it, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Mine have been having a bath in sawdust mixed with wood ash
They seem to love it
I have a triangle shaped rabbit litter tray
Fits three chicks

Mine are 2wk 3 days old