winter dust bathing

[naturababe]

in the summer and fall the chickens made their own dust baths because they are outside free ranging all day. now the ground is frozen solid so what do you guys use for dust baths? i was thinking something like playground sand in a container in coop.

will that cure the poopy butts we are getting? it's just poop stuck to their downy butt feathers, not near their vents.

 

[BantamoftheOpera]

My current litter is sand, and even though parts are frozen the girls are still able to take their baths. I think a sandbox is a great idea!

 

[kla37]

Ours use their dusty box all the time. I have sand, screened topsoil, peat moss, and some DE mixed up really well in it. They love it!

 

[Judy]

I've read of people using all sorts of things. Whatever you have around that they can throw around. Wood ashes, leaf litter, sand -- anything.

 

[biddyboo]

We do deep litter and on windy snowy icy days when the hens don't go outside they take their dust baths in their deep litter bedding. We use pine bedding that we began fresh in midAutumn. It's layered about 8 inches now, more in places they've scratched it up and less where they've scratched almost to the floor, but I'll go out to find big scooped "holes" where they've rolled and dusted. Yes, I know their poop and who knows what else is dried in there, but they are contented as can be. I spread a little DE and StallDri when I began this year's deep litter so that is part of their "dust." ~G

 

[woodmort]

Yup, a couple of times a winter I'll toss another bag of shavings in the coop and they'll dust themselves in that. Actually they will use anyplace where the litter is light and fluffy to bathe.

 

[swimmer]

I've got a litter box with some sand/dirt in it.