When to let chicks dust bathe?

[Moriah]

My chicks have no "mommy" but me and they are all doing the cute chicken things to do, dust baths, in the shavings, dish of sand and the dirt of the run and at one point or another they have all stretched out on their side in the sun and soaked up some rays, I agree that they look "dead" and kinda freaky when they do that.

 

[havi]

My chicks were about 4 days old when I put a small dish filled with dirt for them to play in. When I first put it down they just layed in it. Then they realized that they could play in it too. Its too cute to watch them take a little dust bath.

 

[thepetpaw]

My chicks are about 4 weeks old and they bathe in their shavings - it is humourous to watch

 

[mrandmrschicken]

If my chicks are now 5 weeks old, can they also have a mite or tick dust in with the dirt? There is no sign of mites or ticks, I am just thinking prevention. Are they too young? Could it be hazardous?

 

[Lobzi]

Quote:
Yes indeed!!! I made Chickie a dust bath box at about 3 weeks old and taught her by modeling with my hand. She loved it once she caught on. She has long since out-grown her little box but I still make her the mixture of dirt, sand and ash and pour it in a hole in the ground in her pen.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Oh yeah, mine do that ALL the time!! I would think 'what is wrong with my chicken?' and go to investigate. They would jump up, and squawk at me like I had royally ticked them off!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I had a little hen who incubated a clutch of 8 eggs in a wire-bottomed rabbit cage. A couple of days after they hatched I moved them all to an open-bottomed pen, where they could get dirt & grass under their toezies.

The Mama hen was so happy to find a place in that pen where she could take a nice dust bath. She was rolling in the dirt when one of her chickies came over. I could just imagine the conversation:

"Mommy, what'cha doing?"
"Just taking a dust bath"
"I wanna take one too!" and the chick jumps in beside the hen. Then the chick calls out to its siblings "Hey guys, come here! We're taking a dust bath!" and ALL the other chicks come running over, jump in, and crowd the Mama hen OUT of her dirt hole.

And I could just imagine the Mama hen saying "I simply MUST get a lock for that bathroom door!"

 

[rebbetzin]

Today I let my babies out in their tractor for a bit. They are 5 days old and 13 days old. The little five day old Buff Orpington chicks were the first to do the dust bath. It must be part of their hard wiring.

I was shocked at how fast my beautiful clean chicks turned in to dirtballs with bits of grass all over them!!

They seemed so happy throwing dirt all around!
Here they are fighting over who goes next in the dust bowl they made.

Will they ever be clean again?

 

[silkiechicken]

As a note on the medicated vs not medicated feed. Giving medicated feed which is often just a thiamine blocker and not exposing them to cocci is just as good as feeding non medicated food and not exposing to cocci. The point of the medicated feed is to supress the reproductoin of the cocci in the chicks so they can build an immunity. Without exposure, there is nothign to build an immunity against. Reason chicks are often more succeptable, is because the cocci load they can sustain without showing symptoms is significantly less than that of larger adults.

So give day olds a fresh chunk of dirt, dry dirt of course, so any cocci in it won't overwhelm them when they bathe in the soils glory.

 

[chickorama]

I love to watch my girls bathe!! They fluff up all the sand and dirt into their feathers and when they are done bathing, they shake it all out- I can never believe just how much dirt they can fit under there... about 5 gallons!