dirt bath recipes for chickens

[stephen.williams]

Has any one a degood recipe for dust baths for chickens to keep lice/mites pests at bay or any other non-toxic methods for prevention or cure

 

[Davaroo]

Fine dirt, wood ashes, a bit of DE and some potpourri scent.
(Im kidding about that last one)

Heres some other ideas:

-A deep tray filled with dry riddled soil or a bag of standard compost is adequate.
Do not use sharp sand because this can hurt their eyes and irritate their skin. For dusting, the substance should be very light, fine, and dry. The finer the better. Being designed to kill lice, it must be fine enough to fill the breathing pores of these parasites.

Sandy loam mixed with road dust makes a fairly good dusting material.
If sand or road dust is used, sifted coal (or wood ashes) aid in making it finer. The dust box should be placed where sunlight can shine into it, and must be kept free from all litter and other foreign matter.

By its' use the bird is enabled to rid itself of lice and and to remove all the scales and dirt from the skin. It should be deep enough to hold about six (6) inches of dusting material, and is usually located in a corner of the pen, elevated above the floor so that it will not get filled with straw or other litter from the floor.

If flat-topped nests are used, the dustbox maybe placed above the nests. In some cases it is placed at one end of the dropping board.

(Some authorities recommend the enclosing of the dust box, allowing the birds to enter and leave through a small opening. It is that the inside of the house is kept cleaner and more free from dust, which may have a detrimental effect upon the birds. Practice hardly warrents the enclosing of the box, as the birds usually come from the box to shake their feathers, bringing the dust with them.)

A good dusting material is composed of equal parts of loam, sand, and sifted coal ashes (wood ashes), with about three (3) per cent by weight of Kerosene oil, thoughly mixed together. The dust box should be placed where sunlight can shine into it, and must be kept free from all litter and other foreign matter.

NOTE: In place of Kerosene it has been sugested to use a mite and parisite killing powder like Sevin or Dri-kill or like powder.

 

[suburban farm girl]

Food grade diotamaceous earth (DE) - I think I really mangled the spelling. There are a lot of posts in other threads about its effectiveness, how to use it, where to get it, etc.

 

[dixygirl]

what about peatmoss with sevin or de.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Personally I think I'd stick to the tried and true: Dirt, with a bit if wood ash, and DE.

 

[robinaggie]

Davaroo, make sure your road dust is clean. A well-traveled road will have tire dust, oil residue, and other icky stuff in it.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Youre right.
I believe when that was written, roads were perhaps different, as in dirt roads in the true sense. I don't think they mean the dirt alongside the interstate.
But one of those recipes calls for 3% kerosene. Perhaps the dirt at the side of the paved road could serve better than we think, eh?

 

[onthespot]

I bed my cockatiel nest boxes with pine shavings liberally dusted with poultry dust/poweder to control mites. Would this be okay for chickens in a dust bathing box?
One of my sets of chickens is on dirt, the other is up on wire cages for now. I am trying to see if there is a big difference in bird thriftiness on either footing.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

I am new to chickens so please excuse the ignorance but could you use childrens play sand or would that be too harsh on the eyes. I know crayola makes colored sand as I seen it in Walmart on clearance for $2 a bag. Comes in hot pink, neon green, blue and purple, it is non toxic as it is safe for children. I bought a bunch of oil changing pans at the $ store for my dust baths but have waited to put them out till I got a chance to ask if childrens sand is ok and if it is would the colored be ok seeing as it is non toxic (colored would be a chick thing LOL). Thanks

 

[robinaggie]

I've read that play sand is good, but I don't know about the colored sand. I spent $8 on Chinchilla bath sand, and added DE to it. My chickens looked at me like I was insane, and they never used it.