Official BYC Poll: Where Do Your Chickens Dust Bathe?

[Snooky doodle]

My chickens and guineas take their dirt baths anywhere they want as long as they don't dig up my garden!! In the winter I keep cat litter boxes full of their favorite dirt indoors so it will be warm for those mid-winter dust baths!! Nothing cheers up a bored chicken more than a box of nice warm dirt from beside the wood stove on a cold winter day...

 

[the_peanut_coop]

they don't make me mad.... but they just pile on top of each other in a pit in my garden. Its pretty silly to see a solid clump of byrdies.

 

[MeowthLover_ThatsRight]

Dust bathing is important for chickens because it keeps them clean. The dust removes excess oil from the chickens' skin and can even kill parasites. Dust bathing kills parasites by covering them in dust which suffocates them. You have to make sure your run has an area of dry loose dirt and sand that your chickens can dust bathe in and you also have to make sure that the area is protected from becoming a big muddy mess in the rain. To keep the dust bathing area from getting wet try to put a roof over it.

To provide a dust bathing area for your chickens you can pour some sand in the corner of your run, fill an old tire with sand, or let your chickens make their own dust bathing area and just help them to keep it dry. So in this week's poll, we would like to find out: Where Do Your Chickens Dust Bathe?

Feel free to choose multiple answers and please elaborate in the comment section if you choose "Other".

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Further Reading:

• Dust Baths: What they are and why they are important
• Why Chickens Bath In Dust And Not In Water
• Dust bathing – Why, where, and how? Keeping your flock clean and happy.

(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)

anywhere theres dirt they dig

 

[kiwi-chick]

Mine like to move around the half acre they live in and choose a spot they've not used for at least a week or three. Lots of spots to choose from, but they especially like the wind-break made of trees as it is very dry under there and seldom gets wet even when raining.

 

[NiteMareTender]

Mine wander over to the white pines and wallow around in the dead pine needles, ducks too! It's quite amusing to watch

 

[RooStar Chicken Gang]

They dust bath anywhere, all over the place where they find a spot, there's lots a places they can do it on the land. Some parts under trees where there's not much grass, another big patch of dirt they like when it's sunny, in process of building fire pit so they may dust in there... When there's no fire why is it even called a dust path, it's not dust it's dirt.. dirt bath.

When I first learnt chickens like to "dust" bath went and got sand for em.. didn't even use it they just find there own places an look after em self.

If not much loose dirt on ya land just hack some up with a pick.

 

[Secondof9]

I built them a separate little hut because it rains so much here it's a challenge to have a dry place for them to dust bathe. The picture is before I added a dirt/sand/DE mixture (and the rest of the roofing). I quickly realized it was too shallow so I added boards on the front edge and more dirt. The girls really seem to like it and sometimes just hang out in there surveying their world. They also have favorite places up next to the house...and in my gardens. LOL.

 

[Wolfie2]

A green turtle sandbox similar to the one in post @12. Leftover from grandchildren. Poked a hole on it (with a 9mm projectile) to drain rainwater. Filled it with river sand and first rain packed it and now is almost like concrete. They wont go near it! Would rather dig holes in the barn dirt floor.

 

[MamaLynn23]

We made the wooden frame for it, put a bit of ash, hemp bedding and dictomous earth... We will add sand when they finally sell it in the shops... Went to 3 shops yesterday- no sand

Our chickens and ducks love

 

[MamaLynn23]

We made the wooden frame for it, put a bit of ash, hemp bedding and dictomous earth... We will add sand when they finally sell it in the shops... Went to 3 shops yesterday- no sand

Our chickens and ducks love to scratch and bathe in the piles of ash my husband would fill the holes in our yard with over the winter! We have a wood burning fireplace, doesn’t get used often, and he would clean out the ash after a couple of uses and put it in the holes the dogs and chickens made in the backyard. No snow here in South Texas, but it sure got cold enough this time for us to have plenty of ash for them!