Dust bath

[guestsonono]

Hie guys. I want to put a dust bath in my coop. What exactly should it include?

 

[DobieLover]

Hie guys. I want to put a dust bath in my coop. What exactly should it include?

I would not put it in the coop. It is far too dusty.
It should be outside in the run. Oftentimes, no matter what you provide for them as a dust bath, they will dig their own if they have access to the ground to do so.
Can you post pictures of your setup?

 

[theoldchick]

All they need is dirt. Though some folks seem to have a special dust bath formula for their chickens, mine do just fine in plain old river sand.

 

[3KillerBs]

I just let my chickens dig their own dust bath wherever they like.

The preferred spots seems to rotate around to different parts of the run for reasons only chickens know.

Heaven only knows why Chipotle would pick right under the calcium feeder.

 

[RooStar Chicken Gang]

Yes U don't need to do anything, if the ground is dirt the chickens will sort it out themselves, I once when I first got chooks went and got sand and threw it on the ground. The chickens didn't even use it, then I went around and dug up dirt with a pick, they sorta use that, but sooner or later U realise they do it all themselves, unless there on concrete or solid grass soil.

 

[saysfaa]

Hie guys. I want to put a dust bath in my coop. What exactly should it include?

It isn't an "exact" kind of thing as many recipes will work well.

I use sandy soil from the garden, wood ashes from the burn barrel, and a few handfuls of grit. The grit is to give them things to do rather than for dust bathing per se. If I didn't have easy access to sandy dirt or ashes, I would use the cleanest dirt I could get (least fertilizer or such in it) or construction/landscaping sand. I very casually aim for about fifty/fifty sandy dirt and ashes; right now it is about 80/20.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I want to put a dust bath in my coop.

Find a container at least 12" deep, 15" wide, 24" long.
Fill container about 1/3 full of Peat Moss, or use an equal blend of sand, wood ash and natural soil.
No potting soil with fertilizer.
My chickens dust bathe under the raised coops or in front of the people door with my ISA Browns.

GC

 

[saysfaa]

I forgot, I add water almost every day too. They like moist soil much better than dry.

and they use it as a group, so a bigger space is better.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Knowing about your set-up could help with this. If yours have access to dirt they should make their own. That could be outdoors or in the coop, depending in conditions. If your set-up doesn't give them access to dirt then you can try to supply something. They might use it, they might not. As you can see from the responses different people use different things.

My coop has a dirt floor with wood shavings. In some weather some may dig down to the dirt in there and take a dust bath, usually with two or three buddies. Sometimes they use a spot just outside of the coop, not really in that much shade. Sometimes they use a spot under a tree, well away from the coop but in the shade.

Not everybody has the conditions I do so what I do may very well not work for others. As you can see from the responses some people do provide a spot to dust bathe and even get the chickens to use it. You need to listen to the people that have something close to your conditions and ignore the rest of us.

 

[guestsonono]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Knowing about your set-up could help with this. If yours have access to dirt they should make their own. That could be outdoors or in the coop, depending in conditions. If your set-up doesn't give them access to dirt then you can try to supply something. They might use it, they might not. As you can see from the responses different people use different things.

My coop has a dirt floor with wood shavings. In some weather some may dig down to the dirt in there and take a dust bath, usually with two or three buddies. Sometimes they use a spot just outside of the coop, not really in that much shade. Sometimes they use a spot under a tree, well away from the coop but in the shade.

Not everybody has the conditions I do so what I do may very well not work for others. As you can see from the responses some people do provide a spot to dust bathe and even get the chickens to use it. You need to listen to the people that have something close to your conditions and ignore the rest of us.

Thank you so much, here is a pic of my coop, it’s a concrete floor then I put grass as bedding. When the grass has broken down they use that bedding to dust bath, but I remove manure for my garden so there are times when it’s just solid grass. If I leave a bit of some broken down bedding when I’m changing their bedding, would they use it? Or I ultimately need to put maybe a big box with sand mixed with ash, and just some dirt (that’s what I have access to at the moment)?