favorite dust bath recipe?

[kinnip]

Mine have DE, ash, sand, a smidge of poultry dust and some good ol dirt. The turtle has a lid, so it stays nice and dry. They also have a stump they've completely hollowed out (spooky). They like to dustbathe in the remains. I've scraped it up a couple of times, for fear of mites, but they magically find more stump in there (very spooky).

 

[rughooker]

Quote:
VERY CUTE IDEA WITH THE TURTLE AND LID!!!!!!!!!!

 

[amazondoc]

I love that turtle!

I want to mention that my button quail already know the perfect dust bath recipe: take one slice of wholegrain bread, apply body!

I swear I have never seen anything much cuter than a gaggle of dust bathing button quail, whether they're using the "real" dust bath or their bread to wallow in.

 

[cthrash1]

I just mixed peat moss with a little loose dirt and some Sevin today.

 

[courtshep]

This may be a stupid question, but does the wood-ash get the feathers black? does it stain or anything? I have been thinking about this for the past couple days. My birds just have dirt now, but I do have ash I could use.

 

[TheBirdiesAreMyBabies777]

Hello, I was wondering about dust bath components for our birds, and just read something information about Diatomaceous Earth (Is that the 'DE' you were talking about?)... If I mix that in their normal dusting spots is it okay for them to breathe/can I not be around the birds while they're dusting because of the dust in the air? Also we have some peat moss that we have considered for use with dustings. If it were used just by itself would it have the same mite cutting properties as dust? Are there certain types of peat moss that are safer for the birds than others? We have Guineas, Chickens, Ducks, and Geese; Are all of these materials safe for ALL of them to be around? Currently the Guineas and Chickens dust themselves in very fine dirt. Is that enough to kill and prevent insect pests? What is the best way to prevent insect pests on the water fowl/are they less likely to get the same insect pests? Could sparrows introduce certain pests into the coop? I also read that you could 'dip' an animal in an insecticide mixture to ward of mites and other such pests if they may be present. What do they mean by 'dip'; would this be a dry or wet mixture; and is this safe for the birds? Thanks

 

[gavinandallison]

WOW - I never though about making a bath recipe -- I normally take the shovel and dig the chickend love to dig with me - BUT now I am planning to make my girls a chicken bath spa - a - ramma .... peatmoss , sand etc... you chicken people Rock with ideals

 

[ajs109]

For all you folks that don't have access to wood ash. I will assume you dont have access to wood either so....Just go to a lumber yard, get some clearance lumber, most lumber yards will cut it to your specified length and burn it in your BBQ.

 

[lynnehd]

I love that turtle!

I want to mention that my button quail already know the perfect dust bath recipe: take one slice of wholegrain bread, apply body!

I swear I have never seen anything much cuter than a gaggle of dust bathing button quail, whether they're using the "real" dust bath or their bread to wallow in.

I'm imagining that! And it is very, very CUTE!

I live in the PNW and have a covered run, including the area under the coop. I put up plexiglass over the mesh in that area under the coop to keep it dry and block the wind during the rainy season.
Most of the run has sand, but I've added Stall Dry to the area under the coop.
They take dust baths there every day. I just added some more today.

I also have a large cement tub in the run with peat moss, wood ash and fine dirt. They like that, but they LOVE the area with Stall Dry.
In the summer they dust bath in an outside area that is dirt and fir bark mulch.

 

[Chicken Pickins]

I'm trying a mixture of,
Peat Moss
Sand
Wood Ash
Diatomaceous Earth
(The DE helps kill parasites)