Old Wood Ashes... safe for dust bathing?

[Dianemarie]

This was an interesting thread. My chickens have just hollowed out a small hole under their coop to bathe. I have 2 burn barrels and one is dedicated to fallen branches, leaves and pine cone. I was thinking of filling a 5 gal bucket of ash and just dumping a little in their hole occasionally. A lot of contradiction here. I still may try just a little here and there and keep an eye on them.

Use the science to come to a conclusion. It is all here, people have provided links and plenty of scientific information.

 

[Chickenfarmer420]

Ceramic artists and those making pottery will tell you not to handle wood ash bare hand. They do NOT purify the potassium hydroxide. Even in concentration of 5-10%, it will saponify your skin!! I don't know where and why people think its okay! IT'S NOT!! If you don't believe me, make a solution of wood ash and stick your hand in it for about 10 minutes!! And if you have a chance get a litmus paper (tests the ph) you will get a reading of 12 or higher even with raw wood ash. ph of 0 to 1 is extremely acidic things like 10M concentration of hydrochloric acid, nitiric acid, and sulfuring acid. These are strong acid. on the other extreme are ph of 14. Things like sodium hydroxide aka, lye, hot lye... and potassium hydroxide. Exremely caustic.

If you don't think mixture of wood ash and water is totally safe, better than just placing your hand in the solution for 10 minutes, make the stuff and put it into your aluminum pot and tell me what happens in 10-30minutes.

For those who say it is safe, needs to take a basic chemistry class!! This just makes me fuming mad. Old wives tale!! Just because you read it somewhere that it is safe doesn't make it so.

BTW, my background includes "basic chemistry" in college and also includes p-chem, statistical thermodynamics (chemistry) and some quantum chemistry. Where in the heck did you get your information that it is safe!? Lets compare our sources!!

Nobody is mixing it with water. You’re missing that part.

 

[nuthatched]

Nobody is mixing it with water. You’re missing that part.

This thread is from 2012, you are unlikely to receive any response from the op.

 

[rabifaf]

I have a large wood stove that is my sole heat soure in the house. I have to clean it at the very least once a week and I am wondering if it would be safe to use the old wood ashes in the coop and for the chickens to dust bathe in?

I do DLM in the coop and was thinking i could toss some ashes around in there as well, maybe help kill/keep away mites & lice? also soak up some moisture. This time of year it's hard for the chickens to find a dry place to dust bathe so I was also thinking i might be able to put in a "dust box" and keep some wood ashes(only) in there for them to play in.

Wasn't sure if old wood ashes were safe for them or not, so I figured I better check with everyone here first, and maybe treat it like a dry fire app test before I did something possibly very stupid.

Can anyone tell me if I can use the ash from my wood burner in the chooks dustbath? I've not had to give my chooks a separate dust bath before as they made their own in the dirt but here there isn't enough dry earth yet for them to do that. I've got a nice big plant tray for the purpose & have read sand mixed with wood ash is a good medium but not sure if the ash is safe. What does everyone else use in the dust bath?

 

[nuthatched]

Can anyone tell me if I can use the ash from my wood burner in the chooks dustbath? I've not had to give my chooks a separate dust bath before as they made their own in the dirt but here there isn't enough dry earth yet for them to do that. I've got a nice big plant tray for the purpose & have read sand mixed with wood ash is a good medium but not sure if the ash is safe. What does everyone else use in the dust bath?

Peat moss is fantastic.
I'd skip the ashes, not the greatest for skin though you can use a little.