Anyone else's chickens dust in questionable things?

[AshleyD87]

Anyone else have chickens the dust in things besides dirt?? I found my girls dusting in coal dust for the 2nd time, today. Is this safe? Should I discourage them from it? When the ground is dry they usually go for the dirt. However, it's currrently muddy or ice covered in spots. They found the coal dust pile though!

 

[Relleoms]

I don’t know if it’s good for them or not, but they sure do look happy!

 

[AshleyD87]

They looked very happy, which is why I just let them go. I've read in a few posts about bbq charcoal but nothing about regular coal. We burn coal in our furnace and dump the dust outside, at the edge of our yard.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

I don't think it'll hurt anything.

 

[Molpet]

depends what you read... some say fly ash has high levels of arsenic and heavy metals.. some say it makes a good fertilizer... might depend on the coal

 

[Creteloc]

Dust bathing is my favorite thing to watch chickens do.

 

[Chickassan]

It looks pretty spent, they'll be fine. I caught mine dusting in cat litter it can always be worse.