Topic of the week - Dustbathing

[FlyingNunFarm]

- From what age on do you provide a dust bath for chicks?
The youngest chicks I've had were 8 weeks. They dust bathed right away. I have chicks on the way and from reading the thread I'll be putting a little dusting pan in the brooder.

- What do you put in your flock's dust baths? (Soil, sand, ashes, DE, mite and lice powders, etc)
They dig holes in the yard. I have a permanent run area where only weeds will grow. (What I refer to as Jurassic Park once the weeds are 3 feet tall) I also have a movable run area to try and keep mass grass death at a minimum.

- Suggestions for dust baths in coops/runs and over winter?
I use a restaurant bus tub in the coop. (That thing they collect dirty dishes in.) I leave it in the coop year round in case of rainy days. I'd say in winter it is used the most. It has dirt, sand, peat moss and a handful of pine shavings. I want to add wood ash but don't have a fireplace or wood stove. Need to have a bonfire I guess.

 

[igorsMistress]

I provided a pan of dirt in the brooder after a week due to size limitations at first.

I don't do anything to provide dust bathing other than let them out to free range.when chickens decide where to bathe.

 

[rosemarythyme]

- From what age on do you provide a dust bath for chicks?

I didn't provide one until they showed interest in dust bathing.

- What do you put in your flock's dust baths? (Soil, sand, ashes, DE, mite and lice powders, etc)

My dust bath material is just organic peat moss or organic garden soil (without fertilizers). I plan on mixing in some wood ashes in the future once I get a fire pit built.

- Suggestions for dust baths in coops/runs and over winter?

My flock's favorite hang out spot in their run is under a very large tree in one corner. I also have roosting bars set there. So I bought a 42" square raised garden bed kit, filled it with peat moss, and they quickly adapted to using it. Nice thing is the peat moss dries out quickly and is easy to loosen up with a rake when the weather turns nasty.

I also let them dust bathe and play in my raised vegetable beds (which are also in the chicken run) when they're lying fallow. Works the same way, except it's garden soil instead of peat moss. The birds help pick out grubs, aerate, and fertilize the soil for use the next season.

 

[meetthebubus]

My girls love to bathe under the Sandy bushes, when it's been warm I'll water down the dirt a bit and dig light holes for them they'll run and start rolling in it, the wetter dirt is just slightly heavy, sticking better to them and cooling them down, it kind of looks like moon sand

They can bathe whenever but I will do the above process about twice a week and then it's 'family' bathing time with our Roo joining in too!

 

[sumi]

So, when a new chick dustbathes for the first time, do they get into some kind if dustbathing fit or trance or will they snap out of it right away if you disturb them?
I am asking because once again my new chicks scared me with their first dustbathing attempts and when I moved toward it for a closer look it jumped up only to plop down a little farther and keep going.
Which now that centrarchid says they start at around 10 days old of my first batch a year ago where we came upon a barely two week old lying on its side in the brooder and - it seemed - unable to get up. I picked her up (she didn't jump and run) and put her in little emergency set up and she kept falling over. I treated her to vitamins and all that and after a few hours she seemed fine again. I thought back then that it was a vitamin e issue (my feed was stale), but I still wonder if she was just dustbathing maybe? A day later the only other white brahma I had did the same thing, same treatment and recovery - that's why I thiught they might have had a weekness possibly coming from the same hen? All the others were normal and started dustbathing weeks later...
So - can they get kind of stuck in dustbathing mode? Or was I right that it was a vitamin issue?

It may well be a vitamin issue, or something else, but I have seen chicks go into a bit of a "trance" or something when they dust bath or stretch out under the heat lamp. I'll never forget, when I got my first chicks years ago, I found one lying on it's back one afternoon, dead it seemed. A bit upset I reached into the brooder and picked it up to remove it… Well, you can guess what happened next. The chick and I both screamed lol I scared the crap out of the little one and it me, but it was perfectly fine.

 

[DancingWthDucks]

Since my poor flock had to be locked inside for about 5 months (Bird Flu restrictions ), they didn't have access to their usual dust bath (just a dusty hole they have created). Instead I gave them a medium sized plastic storage box filled with a mix of sand, soil and ashes which worked just fine.

 

[SuziQ18]

My coop is enclosed in a 13'Lx11'Wx7'H coop run. The whole floor is dirt and straw so they have the entire area to dust bathe and thoroughly enjoy doing so.

 

[mymilliefleur]

My veterinarian told me that DE is actually bad for dusting as it is so fine it irritates their eyes and respiratory systems. I see people really like it though to mix in. Dont know what to think about it as an addition. Thoughts from more experienced people?

I don't use DE in my dust bathes for this reason. I've also never found it to be very effective against mites/lice.

 

[Abriana]

I move my coop often, so underneath the coop is first grass, and quickly turns to fine dirt and my chickens dustbathe in that. I bring out my chicks at any age from the brooding box and they will dustbathe. I don't provide dirt for them, but you can make a box and fill it with dirt.

 

[memphis]

Don't forget....turkeys LOVE a dust bath too!!