Dust bath question

[nsanywhere]

I'm in northeast PA - its cold and wintery here! But, a few weeks ago we had a crazy warm day, 60 degrees, so I let my chickens out for a run. They had a blast, but I noticed they went straight for the loose dirt and had quite the dust bath.

Now that the cold is back, I'm wondering if I can put anything in their pen for a dust bath. The chicken coop has pine shavings, the outdoor fenced run is dirt but this is frozen solid now.

I'm thinking the kiddie wadding pool with something in it to dust, then I could take it out of the pen so it doesn't freeze. But what to dust with? Ashes? Something store bought?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Cats Critters]

My thoughts would be ashes or sand. But I have no experience with either.

 

[Manok-Tao]

sand with ashes is good, sand with DE is good.

 

[Wifezilla]

I use play sand for my quail. The sand goes in a chinchila dusting hut. The climb in and go NUTS

. Chickens will need something MUCH bigger, but a play pool sounds good. Adding DE is also a good idea.

 

[fordmommy]

How many chickens do you have? I just pour all purpose sand or play sand on the floor. I have a dirt floor with pine shavings and hay on it. I push the hay and stuff out of the way and pour it in a corner. I tried putting it in a square plastic pan that's about 2x2 and 4 inches tall. I got it with my puppy for potting training but I never used it. They didn't want anything to do with it.

But on the floor was FUN! They scratch right on in there. With the all purpose sand it has small rocks the size of grit in there. The ate all that too! And it's cheaper than playsand.

 

[gryeyes]

I put "all purpose" construction sand in a plastic tray thing... basically, the bottom of a LARGE cat litter pan. Short sides, because the top is covered, and I left that off.

Oddest thing, they never poop in it. They'll sit on the edges of the pan, sometimes, but never poop into it. They scratch in the sand, loll in it (I guess that's the "dust bath" behavior), and pick out the small pebbles to eat.

I keep this tray in the covered area, so it stays out of the rain. Every now and then, I dump the sand out in the yard when it gets sort of low (from being kicked out over the weeks) and put whole new fresh sand in it. Big deal - a 50 lb bag o' construction sand costs $2.98.

 

[MimiChick]

I use an old kitty litter pan, in a sheltered area of the run, with sand and wood ashes. I also put some DE and poultry dust in it to help control mites and other pests. My girls love it. When they can't go outside to dust bathe they have that, and having pest control in it is a bonus for me. A small wading pool would work too if you have the room. My run area is small, and I only have 4 chicks, so the litter pan works well for me. I've heard you can also use one of the covered litter pans if you don't have a sheltered area for an open one. Good luck.

 

[RAWR]

Quote:
agreed