Dust bath question..........

[14 chickens & counting]

What materials do I need to build a dust bath?

 

[Dogfish]

Sand or dirt that is dry.

 

[Qi Chicken]

Not to be discouraging but I made one and all they do is poop in it. I've never seen one dust bathe. I used half fine sand and half construction sand with some de mixed in. If you find some way to get them to actually use it (for its intended purpose!) let me know!

 

[greekbioguy]

i made mine using wood and placed around 10 cm of thin sand inside it

it is around 70cm x 70 cm and 2o cm high

 

[Laurajean]

I lined my entire run with 6" of fine grade construction sand. The chickens chose a couple of spots, 2 corners actually, to use as their dust bath spots.

 

[darkmatter]

I put an old tractor tire out in the run in a sunny place and filled it with sand from the creek and wood ashes from my stove. They use it most when there is a fresh pile of wood ashes in it. They do tend to find other odd spots about the run and will excavate holes without any criteria I can ascertain as to location or nature of the soil.

 

[Laurajean]

Quote:
I don't mean to hijack the post, but darkmatter, can you tell me more about the wood ashes? I always dump my wood ashes into the compost, do the chickens like them? It doesn't get them all sooty? Is there a benefit?

 

[Catstar68]

I used a big plastic 55 gallon barrel and cut the first 18" off the top and filled it with peat moss. They stand in line to use it.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Quote:
Oh, I love the tire idea. Great way to reuse something and contain the sand.

 

[maizey]

BOUGHT playground sand, lovingly mixed wood ashes and DE into it. Then BOUGHT a lovely, sealed bucket to store it in. Then placed a generous sample of this delicate mixture in a likely spot in the run. They FLED from it like it was plague and will ONLY dust bathe under the shed that they CANT GET TO unless they are out free ranging. I guess they just stare longingly in the general direction of the "chosen" dust bath area from inside their run while they ignore the custom, high dollar, thoughtfully prepared and expertly doctored dust bath that they have free access to all day long...do I sound bitter?