Dust baths

[Cbrown23]

I have 6 chicks that just moved out to the coop. I am working on setting up their dust bath. When they were much younger I gave them peat moss. What is the best mixture to use. I have food grade DE and more peat moss. Should I add something else?

 

[Prince and Pavo]

Hello! My chickens dust bathe in shallow depressions in the dirt. I don’t usually provide anything else, but DE will ensure that the bugs stay away.

 

[Cbrown23]

Hello! My chickens dust bathe in shallow depressions in the dirt. I don’t usually provide anything else, but DE will ensure that the bugs stay away.

I would just do dirt but we only have georgia red clay and I didn’t think that was a good option.

 

[Shadrach]

DE isn't that helpful in a dust bath.
Do you have any dry compost?

 

[Cbrown23]

DE isn't that helpful in a dust bath.
Do you have any dry compost?

No I wish. We are just getting our homestead started. We are starting our own compost, garden, and we have chickens now.

 

[Shadrach]

No I wish. We are just getting our homestead started. We are starting our own compost, garden, and we have chickens now.

I don't know how serious your clay soil problem is. Clay, once dried and crumbled can make an excellent dust bath.
Have you considered drying out some of the clay and buying a bag of topsoil from a local farm store to mix with it?
Hardwood ash is good if you can find some to mix in.
The problem often is the chickens don't want to bathe where you've made their bath.
A 40 litre container partially sunk in the ground filled with options from above may work.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Plain peat moss is perfectly fine, no need to add anything else really. My birds will dust bathe in the litter too but it's wet much of the year so having a covered tub of peat moss is the only reliable dry substrate they have.

 

[Captain13]

I’ve been letting my week old chicks stay in the run for the past three days. There is construction sand in the run and their dust bath is just all purpose sand right now. They found the dust bath today and loved it. No dust bathing in the run sand today, just in their dust bath. They really liked the all purpose sand. I will add some stuff to it over the next week. Temp here was 85 today and will be 48 tonight so they are back in the brooder for a couple of days.