dust bath

[AprilsZoo]

Loam is just fertile soil… potting soil is similar…

 

[AprilsZoo]

I think it’s clay or adobe. Playground sand is very good according to my chickens behaviour.

Clay is slick as snot when it’s wet…
Adobe is clay-rich soil with straw or long grass mixed in then it’s formed into (most often) bricks and baked in the hot sun.

 

[Drumstick63]

I think it’s clay or adobe. Playground sand is very good according to my chickens behaviour.
P.s. looked it up:
View attachment 2677454

Thank you, will pick some up tomorrow

 

[AprilsZoo]

Just found this in another thread:

If you want to provide a dust bath and the soil in your yard isn't suitable, you can use a mix of any of the following: plain unamended top soil, peat moss, sand, wood ash.

 

[raingarden]

I use coral sand. It has a lot of fines. The birds seem to like it. When they get new wood shaving bedding they dust bathe in that too.

 

[3KillerBs]

The important thing about any purchased soil is that it shouldn't have fertilizers, water beads, perlite, or other such additive. Plain dirt.

 

[Matejka]

When you go to the store. Ask an employee for dirt.
Plain old dirt.
Cheapest you see.
Sand is dirt.
Play sand/construction sand is almost the same i think. play sand will work, but marketing knows people pay more for sand for kids sandbox (play sand) than a bag of sand (you know the play sand is healthier than playing in dirt Yada Yada yada)
Beach sand would work
I would stay away from potting soil-whats been added to it to help plants grow?
Just my 2 cents worth

 

[Acre4Me]

The important thing about any purchased soil is that it shouldn't have fertilizers, water beads, perlite, or other such additive. Plain dirt.

Perlite should be fine, but often the bagged soils with perlite have fertilizer and water beads in them, which would make it undesirable to use.

 

[Acre4Me]

Ask friends for wood ash from fires. Of course, if the fires were used to burn trash, not a good idea, but if only wood ash, it’s ok.

peat, sand, sawdust also are good additions.

 

[BDutch]

I used a big flower pot in the coop for a dry spot to take a dust bath, until last winter. But they preferred a dry outside spot under a window more and more.

Even the neighbour cat likes it.

The playground sand should be clean and definitely without chemicals.

About the loam / clay /adobe : some things are not easy to translate. And google translates doesn’t translate these things properly. But the soil in and around my garden is a mixture of clay, sand and loam.

Edit: added missing words