Did you know that you can make a dust bath for chickens that can help control parasites? I'll let you in on the 2 main ingredients and tell you exactly why you (not them) should control where they dust bathe.
It's a simple chicken dust bath recipe with wood ash and Diatomaceous Earth and it works like a charm...
Why do chickens roll in dirt?
Chickens use dirt baths to get their feathers clean. Completely opposite of being a human....or well, almost any other animal! It works for them though. The dirt they fluff up under their feathers helps to absorb excess oil from their skin. They do the vertical wing shake to get the dirt all the way down to their skin.
Dust bathing helps to control any parasites they may have. It's also great for getting rid of mites and lice. They also dust bath when it's hot out to cool down. Plus, it just plain feels good!
Why you need to make the dust bath for them
Unfortunately they just pick a spot based on the dirt and or sun availability. They really don't care that your Petunias are getting uprooted, or that you'll probably trip on the hole later when it's dark. (I call these ankle breakers)
Let the chickens pick and they would chose the garden, driveway, the kids sandbox etc. You need to redirect them so they don't poop in your tots sandbox, get run over by something, end up in the woods too close to predators, or just too far from your line of sight.
Try to block off their badly chosen spots. Unless you give them an adequate dust bathing spot to use though, they'll probably just make a new one wherever they want. In my post Dust Bath Tubs you'll see one solution to this dilemma.
I've seen dust bathing areas made from old kids sandboxes, wooden boxes, an old drawer or even a bag of sand dumped in a sunny spot. You can even just sink a few 2X4s in a sunny corner of the run to form a square if you don't have a dust bathing container. If you build it they will come! It doesn't need to be deep, just a few inches is fine. They won't leave when they hit bottom.
They probably won't even notice!
Wood Ash & DE For Chickens Dust Bath
Next you'll need to fill the tub or chosen area. My 2 main ingredients are wood ash and diatomaceous earth.
- Food gradeDiatomaceous Earth (or simply called DE) is well known to help with parasite control and what easier way to get it onto your chickens then to let them put it on themselves?
- Wood ash is the second ingredient. It's a light airy material full of vitamins like K, calcium and magnesium. It floats right up in between all those feathers and really gets the job done! Make sure it's cooled ash from a wood fire only, not ash from a grill or wood stove since those may contain added chemicals.
- The last thing I add is regular sand. This helps to weigh down the mixture a bit so it doesn't blow everywhere and keeps it from turning into 1 big lump of ash mud after a rain. I like contractor sand....it's cheap and works just as good as the higher priced play sand.
You're done, you've made the chickens an approved dust bathing area. You may have to chase them away from other spots from time to time, but they'll keep coming back to this one as long as it's kept full.
Oh, and don't worry if you see them eating their dust bathing material! DE has been known to help with internal parasites. Charcoal in wood ash absorbs toxins when chickens eat it (charcoal can absorb up to 200 times its own weight! Amazing!) Sand is just grit, and we know chickens need grit to digest.
In fact that's exactly why I like the contractor sand so much, it has all different sized pieces of sand...not just fine.
Hope your chickens enjoy their new spa treatment area!~L
Check out how Lesa at Better Hens & Gardens makes her Dust bathing area.
Want information on raising chickens sent right to your email weekly? Click right here to join my list and get new posts sent directly to you the day they're published ... plus, you'll also get the free download '25 Ways to save money raising chickens'.
Very interesting! Except for the DE we have all those ingredients in spades. Mine seem to prefer to bath under mom's lilacs, so although they're in no danger etc. it's potentially threatening to mom's bushes lol
ReplyDeleteThat's the best part about woods ash, most people have a ton of it and it's free! Many people don't add the DE. You'll still get great benefits with just sand and wood ash. I've filled the chickens badly chosen dust bathing areas with larger sized rocks to get them to move on to a new area. It usually works, and I just remove them a few weeks later.
DeleteGood luck!
~L
Interesting. I was under the impression most people like one or the other to add to dust baths: DE or wood ash. I've never heard of mixing both! ...But we're new to chickens, so that's not saying much. :) Ours have decided to dust bathe right next to the rosemary bushes, which I hear is good for parasites. Who says chickens aren't smart? :)
ReplyDeleteRosemary....that is smart! Many people just use wood ash because they have it easily accessible in their fireplace or wood burner. You can do both, or just the wood ash. I would still add some sand though, just to give it a little weight and keep it from turning into an ash mud bog when it rains.
DeleteGood luck with your new chickens!
~L
Great idea~
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing at the HomeAcre Hop!
Its great as long as the dust bath doesn’t get wet, ash will scald the chickens skin!,
ReplyDeleteYes, but chickens won't attempt to dust bathe in wet areas. They will wait for it to dry out...or to turn from mud back into dust.
DeleteLisa