Dust bathing in a tractor?

[Mallory]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't need to provide a separate area for dust bathing, right? They can/will dust bathe in the coop pine shavings and DE mix (if I use it)?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

They will dust bath in anything that may give them a wonderful scratchy feeling. Shavings aren't a very good substitute for dirt but they will do it. My older chicks do it in shavings and my little chicks do it in a food dish if they can get in it.

Most all my breeder birds live in tractors and they just dig a hole in the grass and dirt and have a good bath every day or so. I move the tractor and they make a new hole. Fine by me. I want mine to live and act like chickens. I bounce along when mowing but I don't care. My chickens are happy.

 

[aggie9296]

x2. keep moving the tractor and they will make new areas to use. it' s a bit of a mine field in my back yard too.

 

[suzyQlou]

Hmmmm. Suppose I want a tractor without too many holes in my backyard. Would adding a sandbox for them help? Maybe the size of a small cat-litter box?

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

You could try it but I dont think it will make a difference. I have one in my tractor and they use it if they cant get outside or if the sun has hit it through the window and heated up the sand. Chickens dig holes. I move my tractor daily so the holes are small. On the up side my cheeps are happy and giving me nice eggs.

 

[patandchickens]

I don't know about other chickens, but when I had my original 3 in a tractor, they used to dig dustbathing holes in the lawn within the tractor. Because I was moving the tractor daily, this became annoying (bomb craters all over the lawn) so I tried putting a large shallow rubbermaid container of sand/dirt in there for them. It added to the nuisance of moving the tractor b/c it had to be moved separately, it was usually a mudpit because of course it would catch all the rain, and even when dry, they would still dig holes in the lawn instead of using it

Now there may be a better way of doing it or my chickens may ahve been especially stubborn, but, just lettin' you know how it went for me

Shavings don't really provide a dustbath experience, especially if they are fresh-ish (in contrast to deep-litter been-there-for-a-year type shavings, which kind of do (at least in wintertime when outdoors is not an option), according to my sussexes anyhow.

Pat

 

[patman75]

When I would let my chickens out of the tractor the first thing they would do is make a mad dash for their favorite landscape bed that was full of cedar mulch.

A kiddy pool filled iwth sand would work.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

My grow-out tractor has a mostly roofed run. I put a large saucer from a planter in it, filled with plain sand. Any type of container that you can fit in there works. My chicks dust bathed in it and it didn't get wet, because of the roof. We moved the tractor daily after they got larger, too. We just popped the saucer on top of the run, since the run has a flat roof. The roof is hinged so it opens up, which also made it easier.

Once the pullets were large enough to not be so tempting a target for cats and small hawks, we let them free range all day. Even before that, we let them out when we were around to supervise or at the end of the day. If you can give them a little time at the end of the day, they can dust bathe in a dust bath out in the yard.

 

[arthurpete]

I just put a kitty litter pan filled with sand out in my tractor. They promptly began to eat the sand, no bathing as of yet. They are 6 weeks old anything i should consider?