Dust bath in winter?

[HaloAmanda]

I've noticed my chickens are dust bathing in the PDZ poop table, with all the poop!! How do people provide them an alternative dust bathing option in the winter or rainy weeks?

 

[Isaac 0]

I put a small kids pool with sand mixed with wood ash.Just put it in the coop so it doesn't get wet.

 

[Percheron chick]

Something as small as a kitty litter pan is big enough for a dust bath.

 

[aart]

I keep my PDZ/sand mix on the poop board less than half an inch deep so they don't do that.

They also have a place under the coop that stays dry enough most the year to dust bathe in.

I do have a tub(14 x 20 x 8") of sandy dirt (from outside) in the coop, but it's their last resort....
...only used when the under coop area has been frozen solid for weeks.

 

[HaloAmanda]

I bought a shallow bin to place in the coop, if I as to purchase dirt and sand what is the type to get? I imagine potting soil is unsafe.
And I plan to mix in some ash, DE and maybe pdz?

 

[aart]

I bought a shallow bin to place in the coop, if I as to purchase dirt and sand what is the type to get? I imagine potting soil is unsafe.
And I plan to mix in some ash, DE and maybe pdz?

Would depend on the type of potting soil...there are many different formulas.
If you could find something pretty plain....no fertilizer, no vermiculite, no perlite...that would be ok.
If not, just get a bag of the coarsest sand you can find.

I'd skip the DE...and the PDZ..... maybe a small amount of wood ash.

Best if you can just find some dry dirt from the yard.....might be hard this time of year.

 

[KrisCVT]

I went through this last year- this year I filled a big bucket with dirt from a favorite dust bath area in my yard..added a little DE to it and brought it inside. Every so often I throw a few scoopfuls (like 3-4 coffee cans full) of the dirt into one of those large wide low black fortex basins and put it in the coop. I leave it in there for a couple days. I remove it for a few days and replace with fresh dirt. It's been so cold that no one has been interested but last year the girls took turns "bathing" in it.