Old Wood Ashes... safe for dust bathing?

[Hawgon]

My chickens love smoke out of the chimney because that means ash for them the next week.....lol The love it and have seen no ill effects to the chickens.....Thanks for everyones input good and bad on this as that is how things get fixed and/or resolved....

 

[Bleenie]

Quote: You should check the pH of old coop litter. When i clean out my coop i dump the old bedding into a compost area(old garden bed) and can't ever keep the birds out of it. I immagine with the chicken poo in there it would be rather high but they can't stay away from the stuff!

DallasCriftins, When I was throwing the ash around the coop i noticed it settled very quickly, I don't know it it has to do with the damp air here or not, i didn't cough or sneeze from it and didn't notice any birds doing that either. When it hits the floor it immediately starts soaking up moisture and does get a little "pasty" if there's a lot in one spot but it's definitely not dusty after that. Just wanted to add my experience with it so far.

 

[missnu01]

I have an old kitty litter pan that I keep full of ashes in the coop for the chickens in the winter. They love it. The ashes can't get wet, and my chickens hate the rain...even if they were covered in ashes, and then got wet the ashes would rinse off...doing no more damage than dish soap which is pretty alkaline as well. You can tell who has been dustbathing because when they run puffs of what looks like smoke trail out behind them. When they stir up the ashes it is heavy I guess because it settles super fast...Nobody is having any ill effects. So I say use it. Works for me.

 

[ReptileMom]

I have a large metal washtub that I fill with wood ash, sand and DE. The chickens absolutely love the dust tub. They had a bad infestatoin of lice prior to my making up the tub for them. They had plucked alot of feathers out and looked pretty scraggly. Ever since I gave them the tub, they are very happy, feathers grew back in. They always look good and healthy now!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have a "burn pile" where I burn paper products, cardboard, wood, etc. After the ashes have cooled the next day, the chickens and turkeys enjoy rolling in all of the ashes.

 

[TheCrazyChick]

I'm a "newbie", so can only speak of my recent experience, but I mix spahgnum peat moss, DE, and wood ash (that's been in my fireplace for at least 2 years!), with the ash being the least largest component. The birds LOVE LOVE love it. And I haven't noticed any bad reactions.

 

[drycreek]

Hey all I can add is I'm new here, but my mother put the wood ash in the chicken yard as long as I can remember and I think I've had chickens for about 40 years and have always done it no dead chickens yet and they absolutely love it.

 

[duckinnut]

I have a "burn pile" where I burn paper products, cardboard, wood, etc. After the ashes have cooled the next day, the chickens and turkeys enjoy rolling in all of the ashes.

The chickens enjoy that as much as a dog enjoys the most vile thing that they can find to roll in.

 

[HamptonHardtack]

After reading this thread, I started giving my substantial amount of wood ash to our chickens for dust bathing, and they are loving it with absolutely no ill effects.

When we clean out the coops now and put it for composting, the humus is going to be better than ever. It is going to be a great year in my garden this year.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Ash will slow your composting. With composting in general you add ash after it is done and mix prior to putting on your garden.

I have an old galvanized wash tub that we put wood ash in. It's put under the coop so stays dry so they have a bathing station even mid winter.