Why do chickens take dust baths?

[Chieftain]

That's a month old, but you can see how vigorous they get out there. The sun his that end of the run every day about 10 AM until around 3, and they are all out there preening and kicking sand all over themselves as soon as the sun warms it up. I have about 4" of sand over a gravel bed, and the entire run is covered...

 

[Chickengal505]

Even my 2-week olds love a good dirt bath...HaHaHa they like it even better when its in the grass!!!

 

[Chieftain]

I just snapped this pic...

Those are my Black Jersey giants in their sandbox. They sleep in the green bucket, but they hang out in the sand. I keep the brooder light on with a 40 watt bulb in it right over that sandbox, so the sand is always nice and warm. The two of them have been groveling in it and dustbathing at night already, and they are only 3 1/2 weeks old! It must be instinctive behavior because nobody has to show them what to do. The sand is sifted out of the run, so by the time they go out there they will be familiar with the "taste' of the sand too...

I also throw a handful of scratch in the box daily, so I know they are getting a constant supply of dietary grit. That way I can give them a variety of other snax...

 

[JennsPeeps]

Your flower pots will be their fav places to dust bathe:

 

[Chieftain]

Jenn, have you ever timed them to see how fast they can empty a flower pot?? (Great pictures!)

We had a ferret that was a flowerpot fiend! If she got loose, she could (and did!) empty a good sized pot in less than a minute...we have an old aloe plant that was traumatized via ferret more than once...

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
These were terra cotta pots I had brought into the house for the winter. I put them on the porch during a cleaning episide and the girls moved in pretty quickly. They took about a week to empty the pots, which had been filled with lovely, dry dirt.

 

[KBMonroe]

My three girls are 3 weeks old and it's their favorite pastime.