Wood ash..?

[ChickenCanoe]

As an aside, be aware that wood charcoal is beneficial to chickens and they do ingest some of the charcoal bits sometimes. When they do, their poop shows up tar black. Do not freak out if you see this. It's normal.

Things chickens eat can add some startling color to their poop such as purple cabbage turning their poop magenta.

My favorites are red cabbage and mulberries.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Wood ash and charcoal/char are completely different things. Agree char has some great uses for chickens (digestive aid, odor and moisture control, compost additive), but I’m not sure I’d use it in a dust bath unless you want your birds dressed like chimeney sweeps for Halloween.

 

[azygous]

Wood ash and charcoal/char are completely different things. Agree char has some great uses for chickens (digestive aid, odor and moisture control, compost additive), but I’m not sure I’d use it in a dust bath unless you want your birds dressed like chimeney sweeps for Halloween.

That's why I run my wood stove ash through a sifting screen to remove all bits of charcoal over a quarter inch so it's mostly ash that remains.

I don't believe that you can manufacture wood ash out of smashing up charcoal briquettes. Good dirt bathing medium is made up of mostly fine particles. You don't often see a chicken trying to dirt bathe in pea gravel.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Yes, biochar is pretty amazing stuff, but for dust baths I’d stick to wood ash, DE, sand, or fine, dry dirt (mine flock just digs their own spot in the dirt under the coop).

 

[RoosterML]

To OP ill mail you some if you want.
Just let me know.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's why I run my wood stove ash through a sifting screen to remove all bits of charcoal over a quarter inch so it's mostly ash that remains.

I don't believe that you can manufacture wood ash out of smashing up charcoal briquettes. Good dirt bathing medium is made up of mostly fine particles. You don't often see a chicken trying to dirt bathe in pea gravel.

I sift mine too.
They go into a bucket for later use when the dust baths need replenishing.
I also use Ag lime and sand.

 

[RoosterML]

I sift mine too.
They go into a bucket for later use when the dust baths need replenishing.
I also use Ag lime and sand.

What’s the Lime do?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It controls lice, mites and fleas. It is also powdery which makes for great dust baths when mixed with other substrate like dry soil, sand and ashes.

This isn't a scientific link but what others in Australia do for lice and mites.
https://sunnystate.com.au/treating-lice-and-mites/

 

[FlyWheel]

I bought two types of sand at Lowe's, one was play sand (granular, like beach sand) the other was general purpose sand which was much finer, almost like dust. I'm going to mix the two together with ash but I'm not going to add any DE to the mix.

I put a thin layer of DE in their coop under their bedding and sprinkled some around their run to keep pests under control, so adding more to their dust bath would just be overkill. Also I feel adding it to their dust bath where it would be kicked up and breathed in large amounts might possibly be detrimental to their lungs.

I know I wear a mask whenever I touch the stuff!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I've heard you don't want play sand, but I don't know why.
@ChickenCanoe, or @azygous , can you tell us why? I may buy some tomorrow and need to know what kind. We've started burning wood in the wood stove and I'll be adding ash to a spot we made for them - after it cools, of course!

Edited typo