What’s a good Dust Bath material?

[rosemarythyme]

I use peat moss since it's easy to get a big bag that lasts a while. The cheapest top soil (something with no additives) would also work. If you have access to wood ash, that's a great mix in as well.

 

[aart]

This week I’m going to be putting in some recycled tires for dust bathes. Three truck tires and a car tire, I painted and washed them. I was thinking of picking up Play Sand for the chickens to dust bathe in, but I wanted to know if that’s a good material/ what should I mix in with it? Is there something better to use?

Where are they dust bathing now?
Just grab some of that and toss it in the tire.
That's what I did, but they still preferred to dust on the ground.

 

[Acre4Me]

The dust bath areas in the run at our place we have amended with sand, sawdust, peat moss and wood ash. All added to the areas of dirt they liked digging in.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Where are they dust bathing now?
Just grab some of that and toss it in the tire.
That's what I did, but they still preferred to dust on the ground.

Unfortunately they dust bathe only when they free range, so I am putting the tires in the run for those days when free ranging can’t happen. They only dust bathe around a tree near their run, the dirt is naturally loose because no plants or grass grow around the areas shaded by the tree, but I can’t move that soil to their coop. I can mix some in but right now their usual tree is taken by fire ants so I had to block it off, and now, they bathe against the house, which I also can’t take dirt from. I’m going to use some Play Sand, mixed with a neighbors fire place ash (he burns wood from fallen trees on our property and his)