DIY Dust Bath For Your Chickens

If you ’ve been around chickens for any length of time , you ’ve probably observed a dust tub or two . Chickens will find an area of sand or dirt , scratch out a hole with their metrical unit , and then continue to roll until they are covered with dirt and dust , which they then continue to shake off . Some first - time chicken custodian believe there is something amiss with their Bronx cheer when they see this demeanour , but in fact , the opposite is true : Chickens enjoydust bathing , and it naturally controls extraneous sponge , such as mites , as the dust and sharp edges of the particles kill and smother these gadfly .

Dust washup is an all important part of being a crybaby , and they ’ll set about to do it with or without a doom area . If you ’d care to seek to encourage your hen to dig out their holes in the place you want , i.e. , not in your garden beds , build your own dust - bathe surface area . It ’s simple , and your chicken — and your plants , for that matter — will thank you .

The come after directions are for one type of dust - bath expanse . you could adjust the dimensions of your dust bath to converge your flock ’s needs , and because the design is so elementary , adjustment are easy to do .

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One affair to keep in nous is that if your dust bathtub is too shallow , the birds may stop up sound off dirt out of the box ; we went with 9 - inch side to battle this . Obviously , the gravid you make your boxful , the more cloth you ’ll involve to fill it , so plan ahead before you go too big . People withonly a few chickenshave had portion with something as simple as a kitty - litter box , though that ’s fairly belittled and does n’t hold much junk . The alternative we have render should give your chicken enough way and enough grime to disperse bathe without dirtying up the grass around it . Daniel Johnson

Materials

Tools

Step 1

Prepare the composition for the face of your debris - washup box seat . beat and cut an 8 - foot piece of 9 - inch pine into four equal 24 - column inch piece using a circular saw . Daniel JohnsonDaniel JohnsonDaniel Johnson

Step 2

Using the four 24 - inch segment , form a dim-witted box frame , and fasten it on all corners with 1½-inch nail .

Step 3

Choose a suitable piazza for your loge near your henhouse before you add the dust stuff , as it will be quite heavy after you add it . Then , append your dust - bath mixture . For this task , we used a 50/50 mix of soil and Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin , adding the dirt first , followed by the gumption . The ground / sand combination is plan to furnish the birds with a dust bath that is of a consistency to their liking . Chickens like a dusty detritus bath — and a dry one — and the Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin helps provide this while being balanced by the soil . Daniel JohnsonDaniel JohnsonDaniel Johnson

Step 4

Mix these together well until good combined ( above ) , and admit your Gallus gallus to enjoy their new debris bathroom . Daniel Johnson

Other Additives

There are other cold pick you’re able to add to your chickens ’ dust bath . Many people come up that their chicken savor cooled wood - fervour ash tree , as this is very dusty . Be sure to only use cooled ashes from wood fires . Ashes from any other type of fire — fusain , garbage , etc.—may be harmful to your chicken ’ respiratory systems .

food for thought - gradediatomaceous earthis another common additive for dust - bathing boxful , as the particles are very sharp and thus honest at killing parasites . One trouble is that the dust from DE can pose a health peril to you — those sharp particles can harm your respiratory system if you breathe too many of them — so take care when using it . Also , be sure to only expend food - course DE , not the puddle - grade variety used for pick .

Whatever material you choose , utilize an adequate mixture of all of them . If you ’re only using soil and sand , as we did here , you ’ll want to create a 50/50 mixture ; if you ’re using all four ingredient , you ’ll need to go with a one-quarter of each .

dust bath materials

Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson carbon monoxide - wrote this article with his sister Samantha Johnson . They have join forces on several Koran , includingHow to Build Chicken Coops ( 2015 ) .

This article appeared in the September / October 2016 publication ofChickens .

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