Dust bathing: my chickens are hopeless!!

[Orpingtons Mom]

So if you can believe this, my chickens don’t know how to take a dust bath. Well actually that’s not quite true; they do know how to take a dust bath, but only with the shavings.

What do I have to do? Strip off and take a dust bath in front of them? I think that might make the neighbors’ eyes bleed…

I made them the most beautiful dust bath. Dirt, ash, sand,... give me a break! They never had a chicken mom to show them how...

 

[Ryguy3684]

Lol. I've made two nice dust bathing spots, and mine mostly use my favorite dwarf Japanese maple. .
I've found that mine use it more if it's raked up and fluffy. I use dried peat moss mixed in with other things to help keep it fluffy. How old are your chicks? They may just need more time. It's a natural instinct, so it'll come to them.

 

[Tonyroo]

My chicks never took dust bath but after four weeks in age and being outside they started to dust bath in my garden usually a sunny spot.

 

[piminuse]

Cats prefer the box the bed came in, dogs prefer the roadkill to premium kibble and chickens...well, any patch of green grass they scratch and any spot in the fenced off garden they turn into a dust bath lol.

They learn, in time, and will usually make their own if given the option to free range. They're sassy like that. You're a good chicken parents for creating a good baht-- sorry they don't recognize that XD

 

[FransGran]

Don’t give up hope though. I put out a wheelbarrow full of dirt for these girls and they ignored it for what felt like forever—until yesterday.

 

[Orpingtons Mom]

Don’t give up hope though. I put out a wheelbarrow full of dirt for these girls and they ignored it for what felt like forever—until yesterday.

and then... c’mon you can’t stop there!! What did they do???

 

[rosemarythyme]

I tried giving mine a bath where I thought it should be. When they obviously picked a different spot, rather than argue with them, I just put the bath in the location they chose. Now both sides are happy.

 

[RRM]

With our current batch of 24 chicks we decided to use sand on the brooder floor instead of pine shavings, and the chicks start doing their dust ritual at 4 to 5 days old.

 

[drinkoj]

Mine do the same. They dig through the shavings until they hit the ground in the run and then go to town.

 

[RoseHawke]

Tell me about it. I made a nice, dry, little "sandbox" for the girls, but they ignore it in favor of the spot they've dug out under the coop. Whatever.