Dust bath

[ntdd]

anyone know if Pro-Mix Mycorrhizae Growing Medium is safe for a dust bath?

I live in a cold climate and have been trying to sort out a dust bath solution. The ground in the run is frozen solid so I made a DIY one from a litter pan - but they won’t use it! I’ve tried moving it around, zero interest. I did use some soil from a bag of promix mycorrhizae I had laying around. My thought was it’s nice and dusty, but maybe that’s what they don’t like because somehow it’s bad for them? Can’t find any information on it. I can’t find anything that says it’s bad... anyone know?
Finding other soil right now would be a challenge, everything is in lock down and most stores don’t even carry soil in the dead of winter

 

[Craig Cowan]

I tried, but they were eating the Perlite. Not so good

 

[rosemarythyme]

Not sure what's in that, but better options would be plain topsoil (often the cheapest thing in a home improvement store) or peat moss.

 

[333113]

anyone know if Pro-Mix Mycorrhizae Growing Medium is safe for a dust bath?

I live in a cold climate and have been trying to sort out a dust bath solution. The ground in the run is frozen solid so I made a DIY one from a litter pan - but they won’t use it! I’ve tried moving it around, zero interest. I did use some soil from a bag of promix mycorrhizae I had laying around. My thought was it’s nice and dusty, but maybe that’s what they don’t like because somehow it’s bad for them? Can’t find any information on it. I can’t find anything that says it’s bad... anyone know?
Finding other soil right now would be a challenge, everything is in lock down and most stores don’t even carry soil in the dead of winter

The hands-down best-favorite in my pens is plain old chicken crumble. Put a couple quarts of chicken crumble into one of those 3-gallon low black containers they sell in almost every farm & feed store (plastic or recycled rubber), place it in the pen where it can't get wet, and you will have a feed/dust bin your chickens will love.

 

[awhan]

I use sand mixed with a little sprinkle of Diatomaceous earth. Medium to coarse-grained sand works best in my experience. Don’t get play sand or a super fine grained sand, which can cause crop impactions.

 

[333113]

I use sand mixed with a little sprinkle of Diatomaceous earth. Medium to coarse-grained sand works best in my experience. Don’t get play sand or a super fine grained sand, which can cause crop impactions.

So true...the fine-grained sands will damage their feathers and result in more frequent molts.

 

[kerbotx]

Someone on another chicken forum made a dust bath out of a large, clear plastic tote; drilled holes for ventilation, cutout a doorway, left the lid on. The best medium for my birds - they can't resist plain peat moss.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/comments/j6s7mx