Anybody have a place in their coop for dirt baths?

[faithsstuff]

Ummmm, can I ask what DE is?

 

[Wolfhound]

Diatomaceous earth: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/food-grade-de-diatomaceous-earth

It helps prevent both external and internal parasite, without the toxicity problems inherent in other pesticides.

 

[Rosaleen]

I have a huge wall unit as a wall in their run...the bottom shelf has two long plastic totes containing sand,soil, wood ash and DE. There is a partial door and the boxes appear to be enclosed so there's not too much waste but, yes the dust flies! They have been using it all winter. You can see my setup on my page.

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, kmenchicks and linnbee bc I was looking for a good size container to use, NOT whether my chickens take dirt baths outside, which is IMPOSSIBLE when the ground is frozen where I live. Do your birds fight over this? Right now they have so much room that everybody shares.

 

[Keltara]

Mine couldn't bathe outside in the winter bc the sand would be frozen. =/ I wanted to know if anybody in the north has put a box INSIDE their coop with dirt. My garden dirt is dried out and they can scratch it bc it's out of the weather. I just wanted to know if you've done this, should I expect infighting. Right now, there's enough dirt to go around, so to speak.

I live in Michigan and have sand in my run and my coop. The sand in the run dries out, even in the winter, and the girls like to bath in it (all through the winter). My run is covered, however rain and snow do blow into it. Sand is completely do-able in northern climates. The chickens will scratch at it when it is frozen to make a nice dust bath spot. Click on the picture below, and you will be directed to my blog post about sand in the coop and run.

Kelly
✿Our Country Chronicles✿​

​

​

 

[kmenchicks]

I've had two in the box at a time, but no fighting.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

During the day ours stay in what we now call the 'playroom'. It's a 12 x 18 room in the barn which has a very dry dirt floor they seem to love using for their daily dirt bathes. The barn was built 30 some odd years ago and this floor is reddish clay type and almost like sand it's so dry and soft. For the past 25 years the room was used for nothing but stored lumber stacked up about 5 foot high. We just removed all the lumber last week and I've never seen so many different types of spiders in one place in my life, LOL. It's finally completed now. We added a hanging water bucket and feeder and a roost area and the girls love spending time there. We cut out a exterior door so the flock can go outside into their run area during the day. The past few days have been so rainy here the girls have been inside.