What kind of dirt/sand to use for dust bath?

[AllenK RGV]

I steal mine from the beach and drive it right past CBP, when it is dry weather my girls always dig the dirt into their own baths from our clay. My beach soil gets ignored unless it is really wet out ruining their normal baths.

 

[aart]

Also, do I buy play sand or builders sand?

Get the coarsest sand you can find.

 

[AlaskanLion]

I use the same sand I use in my horseshoe pits it's coarse builders sand, then I mix in wood ash from the fire pit and wood stove (cold) and plain ground dirt rake it all together let the girls do the rest.

 

[IamRainey]

Their run is on the ground but I have clay soil so it's hard for them to scratch

I have adobe clay. You know, that stuff the people in the Southwest made their homes from; homes and structures like missions that still are in existence 200 years later. The durable, hard-as-rock stuff. The stuff I've been amending for 20 years so I can have a garden. It's no match for my chickens.

When I built my coop and run we dug the hardware cloth down deep to keep the predators out. When the chickens started digging I got worried that we hadn't dug it deep enough to keep them in!

They'll LOVE it. And you'll never have to worry about a muddy run or trimming claws.