Dust bath sizes

[taylacline]

I'm trying to set up a dust bath for my 6 hens. The run doesn't really have the best dirt for them to create their own (lots of hard clay) plus its been raining so much. At the moment I only have about 60 sqft of run space. I am trying to decide what would be a good size dust bath for them and what container to use that isn't going to be knocked over? Should I make a single use dust bath with like a cat litter box? Would the chickens fight over the one dust bath or would they be okay going one at a time? I have some old tires but I don't know if they would be big enough.

 

[Tonyroo]

Use a small plastic kiddie pool and throw in natural topsoil.

 

[David61]

I had great luck with and old 33gal plastic garbage can. I cut it 14-16 inches tall. dig a shallow hole and set it in. loaded it with sandy dirt, peat moss, a very litte wood ash and the girls loved it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The old tires might be fine. Since you don't have a lot of space I'd try to minimize the bath size to what maybe 2-3 girls could stuff into at a time. They like to bathe together but they don't all need to fit at once.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Throw in some wood ashes and cover it with a roof, so it doesn’t get wet

 

[jreardon1918]

I'm trying to set up a dust bath for my 6 hens. The run doesn't really have the best dirt for them to create their own (lots of hard clay) plus its been raining so much. At the moment I only have about 60 sqft of run space. I am trying to decide what would be a good size dust bath for them and what container to use that isn't going to be knocked over? Should I make a single use dust bath with like a cat litter box? Would the chickens fight over the one dust bath or would they be okay going one at a time? I have some old tires but I don't know if they would be big enough.

I just walked out to the coop and found a mass dust bath in progress. We have two hens and six pullets. Seems like the integration has been a success. This picture shows 7 of our 9. As to the dust bath surface... Our whole run is deep litter. Wood chips, grass cuttings, leaves, used pine shavings yard waste.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I like the kiddie pool idea. If your run is not big enough to provide a good dust bath then I'd make the run bigger. That is how important a good dust bath is to chicken health. My experience is that my chickens will pass up all of my good attempts at using tubs and things they deem to small. They prefer to make their own in my wide open spaces of sandy soil. That's why I like the kiddie pool idea because it's big enough to spread wings, etc.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If going with a kiddie pool, I highly recommend one with a lid so you have the option of covering it in bad weather (unless run is well roofed and you don't get much rain/snow intrusion):

 

[perkolator]

I have an old aluminum boat in my structure as a dust bath container. They used to use it all the time, but now just like above in post #6, the middle of the floor's deep dry bedding seems to be the preferred area for dust bathing.