My chicks seem to be taking dust baths in the pine shavings, prompting the other ones to peck the shavings out of their feathers. Is that okay or should I give them a dish of DE or something?
My chicks (just over 2 weeks old now) have been using their pine shavings for dusting also and I haven't had any problems. I have seen them pick at the shavings on one another but it isn't an aggressive action, so I just let them be. If I give them a treat, then I give them a shallow bowl of play sand for grit and they love using that for dust bathing also. Hope this is some help.
Ok, this may be anthropomorphism (did I spell that right??), but I always thought it was sort of sweet, like they were cleaning each other off. LOL, yeah, I know.. they aren't monkeys looking for bugs in each other's hair.. but that's just how it struck me. Meghan
Mine are 3 1/2 weeks old and I noticed them dusting in the shavings too. I've read others mix some sand, a little DE and a little shavings and put it in a kiddie pool for them to "dust" in. Well I ordered some DE today, so I was planning to try to find a kiddie pool for $ cheap. I was wandering around in the barn and found one of my sons old plastic sleds. PERFECT and free! also a pool would've taken up alot of room in the coop. I just used some sand and shavings, until my DE arrives and they LOVE IT. They started burying themselves and playing.
My 2wk old today chicks do the same in their wood shavings and then sort of gently peck them out of each others feathers. Very cute
my silkies do the same. i keep them in paper towel the 1st 2 weeks and move them to shavings the 2nd week. It is the cutest thing to see when they 1st discover the shavings.
Quote:That is one of my favorite things!! They get so excited with the shavings! They discover scratching, digging and dust bathing. So cute.