What to use for dust bath box??

[Equus5O]

I don't keep a container in the coop for dust bathing. I keep it out in the run. I'm using the bottom of our old guinea pig cage. It's about 3'x2', I'd guess. It's deeper and larger than a kitty litter box. It's full of construction sand and cold wood ash. My white chickens are no longer white! LOL And, now that part of the run is covered, I don't have to run out and cover the bath tub when it rains to keep the contents dry.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

I use Diatomatic earth. It also will kill mites.

 

[SallyF]

Quote:
I tried that and my chickens looked at it like it was a ticking bomb. In two weeks I never saw one use it. Finally gave up and dumped it out on the ground, where they all walked carefully around the sand. We don't call them "bird-brains" for nothing!

 

[Hen_House_Rocks!]

Mine is just a dish pan from the dollar store filled with a mix of sand collected from the edge of a local river, DE, wood ash, and pete moss. It seems like they eat the contents more than they roll in it, though. Not sure why as they always have a cage cup full of granite chips.

 

[chick4chix]

I purchased a large rubber feed tub from my local feed store.
I buried the bottom of it into their run about 4 inches then fill the inside about 1/2 way up with approx equal mixture of peat moss / vermiculite/ diatomaceous earth. They go crazy for it and all try to jam into the tub at once. I came up with this idea after watching them try and dust bathe in a ceramic planter that had some potting soil in it. This is much deeper and has soft sides -so even when they are vying for position they can't get hurt on any rough edges.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Great ideas...thank you

 

[TrystInn]

I picked up a cheap covered cat litter box at a thrift shop that I threw dust and DE in, then placed it in their run. So far the gals seem to enjoy it, but they sure don't enjoy getting caught napping in it when I walk by.

Cheekin disapproval, who knew?