Dust bath for chicks?

[MaryOos]

Never use play sand or anything that says silica. Use construction sand which is grittier and acts as grit and has nothing harmful added like silica. Just say NO to silica!

 

[TRMFAM]

In the Fresh Eggs Daily book and blog it is recommended to never use pure sand as bedding or for chicks...holds e coli and chicks eat their feces because they can't tell what it is when caked with sand. The book also says to make the dirt bath out of just sandy soil for the chicks and the 33% of each Soil / Ash / DE when they are older.

I built a dust bath from a flower pot water catcher...the thing you put under the flower pot and I just used top soil from Lowes with a little sand sprinkled in as we do not have sandy soil here.

Be sure on the DE you are using food grade...

 

[chickchikww]

Never use play sand or anything that says silica. Use construction sand which is grittier and acts as grit and has nothing harmful added like silica. Just say NO to silica!

I just brought a 50lb bag of grit and then I was reading the label, it says: "may contain greater than 0.1% silica" ... now I don't know what to do... Can I even give this to my chicken as grit?

 

[TheRambler]

Silica comes from then grinding the rock to make the sand in the first place. It all contains silica to some extent. It's really not a big deal. most sands you can purchase are pre washed which removes the vast majority of any silica dusts that may be present. This is why the bags say MAY cobtain silica and not contains X amount silica. If you're really concerned theb wash your sand again.

 

[azygous]

This thing with silica is way overblown in my view. I grew up on a huge sand dune. My sisters and playmates would bury each other in it. We wallowed in sand. I've been wallowing in it ever since. I'm now 73 and, last time I checked, still alive and breathing.

My chickens have a sand run. Most have made it to age six and seven. I give it to my chicks during the first week for grit. None have ever had problems associated with it.

 

[chickchikww]

Thank you azygous and TheRambler. I had no idea about silica at all. Well, now I know