dust bathing in the winter

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

I need some ideas for how to set up a dust bathing station for our chickens to use this winter. Last winter we put a large, wide cardboard box with low sides in their coop and filled it with sand, and they ended up using it as a toilet I never saw any of the chickens use it for dust bathing.

There is a sort of sandbox like structure in our chicken run currently. It's left over from previous house owners so I don't know what the original purpose was; it's a wooden frame with a bunch of large river rocks at the bottom. I'm thinking of dumping a bunch of sand in there, making sure it's deep enough so the birds don't hit the rocks when they dust bathe, and building some sort of roof on top of the chicken wire over that part of the run to protect the dust bathing area from rain and snow. Maybe we'll just throw a tarp over it.

Do you all think this is a good setup? Any recommendations? Do chickens even dust bathe in the winter, or is the sand/soil too cold for them?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sand isn't a good substrate. You need a dryer material like peat moss. I'm not sure exactly what everyone puts in theirs exactly, but hopefully someone will be along. Mine dust bath in the gravel dust and dry donkey poop.

 

[snow5164]

And if you don’t have donkey poop
( that’s great by the way !!)

I use wood ash, soil , sand and de . People literally burn a log or two to get the fresh ash ...

Have a wiener roast and enjoy
Mine do dust bathe in the sand floor of my coop all winter long

 

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

Good ideas, thanks! We have some firewood on hand; no wood stove but we can burn some outside once the local burn ban is lifted.

 

[bajabirdbrain]

We have been using a combo of peat moss, wood ash(50/50), and a little sand. This appears to make them happy but they also dig some holes in their run as well. We use a child's plastic pool to hold the dust bath material. We get ash from our neighbors except in the summer. I sift the ash thru 1/2" screen and sometimes 1/4" screen last. On the look out for nails, staples, etc and if I see any I put the material in a wheelborrow and rake a large magnet thru it to remove nasty things.

 

[aart]

Where do they dust bathe now?
Does your soil freeze in winter?

 

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

Currently they dust bathe in a few spots in the yard where there is exposed, loose soil. Most of these spots are far from their coop. They also sometimes try to dust bathe in the gravel-covered area just outside our back door but the gravel is a bit too coarse. Our soil does freeze and we have snow on the ground for about 4 months each year. The entire yard is too large for us to keep shoveled, so we only clear the run next to the coop (accessible through a small door on one side of the coop) and a path from our house to the coop's front door. We try to tarp the part of the run closest to the coop when it snows but can't tarp the whole thing because it's pretty large.

 

[Barbs Girls]

We have a kiddy pool in their run with construction sand, black dirt, wood ash and a bit of DE. They LOVE it! They dust bathe and lay in there when it’s hot.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Last year I set up a tub under a covered portion in their run with soil (which is sandy dirt where I dig it up from) and wood ash from our wood stove.
I dug the dirt before it froze and stored it in buckets. My system worked well enough.
You can see the tub here behind my molting Brahma.

 

[aart]

Currently they dust bathe in a few spots in the yard where there is exposed, loose soil. Most of these spots are far from their coop. They also sometimes try to dust bathe in the gravel-covered area just outside our back door but the gravel is a bit too coarse. Our soil does freeze and we have snow on the ground for about 4 months each year. The entire yard is too large for us to keep shoveled, so we only clear the run next to the coop (accessible through a small door on one side of the coop) and a path from our house to the coop's front door. We try to tarp the part of the run closest to the coop when it snows but can't tarp the whole thing because it's pretty large.

Ahh you must be on the east wide of the state?
You might consider putting something up in the run to keep snow off the ground and high enough for them to get under...like and old table with legs cut off......might stay dry enough not to freeze and still be dust bathing worthy. Part of my run is under coop and blocked from most snow, sandy soil under there stays pretty dry and doesn't freeze.

...or grab some soil from their dusting area and put it in a bin in the coop.