Dustbaths??

[adeechickluv]

I've heard a lil about em but not sure why, if, or how i should use them. Help??
thanks,
adrienne

 

[LarryPQ]

Ummm... most chickens will do that on their own. They just need some loose dirt or sand. Warm sun is frosting on the cake.

I keep a water heater pan filled with dirt, sand, DE, and wood shavings in the brooder, as it is raised off the ground. Chicks like baths.

 

[LarryPQ]

BTW

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I have always found they love an ash pile.

 

[flockof4]

Mine will use anything they can find for a dustbath. In the coop they like to roll around in the straw/hay. Out in the run, they find some dirt and roll in that. I don't have a specific dustbath that I've made for them and they're doing fine.

 

[Hozer]

I have a coop about 2 to 3 feet above the ground attached to their run. I just pitch sand under there. It stays dry and dusty for them (when it is not frozen). It is the first place they go when I let them out. Eventualy I plan to wire it off and make a pop door from their run into their dusting area or maybe a trap door from the coop to under their house. The problem would be if they start to lay eggs under there. I will have to put an external door for that...and for when I want to add more sand and evantually DE.

 

[adeechickluv]

So I do not need to give them an area for them to do their "bathing"? Just let them be?

 

[LarryPQ]

You could put a little pan or box top in the brooder--if they don't have access to dirt otherwise.

If nothing else, it gives the chicks something to do.

 

[chicmom]

Hello!

My chickens have two places that the dust bath. One is at the foot of a tree where they have dug up the dirt a bit....they literally splash around in the dirt! It must feel good to them because you can tell they're having so much fun. The other place they like to dust bath is near the foundation of the house......it's dry, dusty dirt there.....and they love to get in there and they flap their wings and throw the dirt over their backs.....the problem there is they're digging up some of my iris plants.....LOL Oh well.

Those places are provided by nature basically, so if your chickens don't get to free range, like others do, then you could provide some sand.......they would be happy campers!

Sharon

 

[gryeyes]

When it was so rainy and they couldn't make their own dustbaths due to all the mud everywhere, I put a cat litter pan full of sand in the covered area of their pen. They love it!

I keep it year round, too. Every four, six months or so, I just buy another 50 lb bag o' sand at Lowes, fill up the pan, and toss the rest into one particular spot in the run.