Chickens dust bathing in their litter box

[AKnewbie]

So my chickens have a litter box under their roosts that is filled with sand. The rest of the area has wood shavings in it. I clean up the litter box about every other day. However, I found them recently dust bathing in their litter box. They have an area outside for dust bathing but if its too cold, they won't go outside. Is it ok if they do this? I imagine there's residual poop in their or sometimes if its a day that I'm not cleaning out the sandbox, I'd think there would be more.

 

[redsoxs]

Well, since to a chicken the whole world is a litter box, I would convert the current box to a mixture of sand or fine soil, wood ashes, and diatomaceous earth, and move it out from under the roosts so it doesn't catch as much poop. Chickens love their dust baths and will use the best available thing - in this case, their litter box. Type in a search for "dust bath recipe" and you will find what lots of folks use and in what ratios. Good luck to you and Happy New Year!

 

[DanEP]

I saw a post where one guy used sand under his roosts for ease of cleaning. He put chicken wire under his roost to keep the chickens out but the poop still fell threw.