Question re Dust baths

[coastalmariner]

I have been reading some posts on the forum regarding dust baths. Most people recommend adding fireplace ash or DE to the dust bath. Are these dust baths in an area where they will get wet? If the baths do get wet, will they dry out so they can be reused or do you have to replenish the bath with ash or DE?

 

[Red&Yellow]

The area will get wet when it rains, but will dry plenty quick. The chickens have enough sense not to use them when it's wet out. Some people provide a special area for the birds to dust bathe in, but in all honesty, it isn't neccessary. They will scratch up a part of the run and use that. Once they make a little hollow, you could add the ash or DE. I would reapply the ash or DE about every other month or so, more or less depending on how many birds you have.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think what you need or want to do for dust baths sometimes depends on where you live. I always have one dust bath in a covered area of the run. We get a lot of rain here and have heavy clay. It makes the dust baths they scratch up on their own useless for a time. It can be weeks before they dry out, during the rainy periods. My birds are exposed to mites from birds migrating to the area in early spring. Then need their dust baths the most, right when the weather is the wettest and their dust baths are the most useless. So for me, giving them a covered dust bath has allowed them to keep mites from getting out of hand. Before that, I had to treat them for mites in the spring.

Since clay tends to hold water and not drain well, I like to add sand to a couple of their dust baths, to loosen it up. One of them also has a lot of peat moss in it. I gave them this the year they became obsessed with a flower bed that had a lot of peat in it. I also add DE to their dust baths. Or at least their main one. Plain wood ash is a great additive, too.

 

[cathy247]

I'm new at this, what is DE that you add to dust baths?

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Quote:
Diatomaceous Earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth