Dustbath thread!!!

[chicken farmer]

This is a thread for all things dustbaths,post your dustbathing spot and add what it is that your chickens,turkeys,etc. dust in. I'm gonna make a small sheltered spot in my chicken pen and add sandy soil/clean wood ash/and DE. I'll post a picture of it when it's finished. Dustbaths are great ways to keep chickens,turkeys,pigeons and other birds healthy and clean by keeping away lice,mites and other pests. It goes down to there skin when they shake and roll in it plus they eat a little bit as well and they shakw and groom it out. Post your dustbaths

 

[matt44644]

Just dirt and i add some DE here and there.

 

[Messipaw]

Great idea. Following.

 

[WthrLady]

I have DE in the run and in the coop with sweet pdz. Tbey love dust bathing in that stuff. In addition, don't giggle, I have a vintage enamelware roasting pan with sand and DE.

Funny to watch them hop, willingly, into a roasting pan with what looks like flour. DS giggles every time and says it looks like they're breading themselves.

 

[ladyearth]

it is hard to get ashes.. our ashes have chunks in them... .the stove we have leaves chunks.. Only way to get them would to use a indoor stove and let them burn completely....


My Rockers were upset when I put some ashes under the toolshed in their dry area... I picked out later hundreds of "chunks"in the area where I dumped the ashes. I should have sifted the ashes....
Would like to build a 16 by 16 box like saw on you tube....bought one of those plastic tubs but they did not like it...

 

[Messipaw]

I use a small kiddie pool/sandbox. In it is a mix of garden dirt, DE, sand, wood ash and Severn five percent. My hens don't like just sand so I added some of the above until they started using it. From then on I stuck with it. The only problem I have is remembering to cover it when needed in bad weather. Good luck.

 

[donrae]

I have a walk-in coop and use the deep litter method, so the bedding is where my girls spend spa time in the afternoons.







In the summer they just use the dirt in the run. I have to watch where I walk, those holes are ankle-breakers

 

[WthrLady]

Chicken are like kids. You can go out and buy/build them the coolest thing to play with/in, and they end up playing with the box or dust bathing in your prized iris beds.

 

[henless]

I use the bottom third of a plastic 55 gallon drum. I used to feed my horses in it. I put an old water hose along the edge to give them something to grip.



Now that they are grown, only one at a time can use it. They also dust bath in my deep litter, so really hard to tell which they prefer, since both are used.

I put dirt, ash and peat moss in my tub. I don't use DE, since I don't want it getting into my litter and kililng the "good" bugs.

 

[aart]

Chicken are like kids. You can go out and buy/build them the coolest thing to play with/in, and they end up playing with the box or dust bathing in your prized iris beds.

For sure!!

One way to get them to dust bathe somewhere else, is to add ashes or peat or DE in where you think their favorite bath is.