Chicken Dust Baths

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What is it?

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If you’ve ever witnessed chickens having a bath in a dusty tub and rolling the sandy goodness all over, you’ll know they love it! The sand or dust soaks up additional moisture and oils onto the skin. It also repels parasites like lice and mites by coating insects’ breathing pores or deterring them.

Making a Dust Bath

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Giving your chickens a dust bath doesn’t need to be fancy, and you don’t have to shell out a lot of money.  Lots of people reuse items (the chickens don’t mind).  The process of making your dust bath is contingent upon the location of your chickens.

Dust Bath Inside Chicken Coop

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Your chickens will attempt to create their dust baths wherever they want but prevent the chaos they cause and set up a proper bath for them!  Therefore, when you house your chickens indoors, you must create space for a dust bathing area (around the size of three chickens).

Free-Range Baths

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Free-range chickens are used to roaming around wherever they want and digging, pecking, and scratching at everything in your garden or yard.  Therefore, you’ll need to teach your chickens to bathe in a dust bath. If you’ve ever trained your dog, this could be something you’re familiar with. Begin by putting the dust bath where they are used to hanging out.

Recipe

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Sand, when mixed with dry dirt, creates an excellent base for your chicken runs dust bath. Always begin by adding these first, and then add additional materials: 1.) Super Fine Diatomaceous earth

2.) Fire Ash

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Fire Ash from wood burning. It is a rich source of calcium, vitamin K and magnesium.  Chickens are likely to eat a bit of the ash; however, it’s okay. It is not recommended to utilize ash from treated coal or wood or if you’ve burnt waste or plastics in the fire.

Dried Herbs

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In addition to giving your chickens a fantastic scent, rosemary, lavender, and mint are effective insecticides that help fight off parasites that plague chickens. Herbs can be added to chicken dust baths. Oregano and sage can help improve their immune systems, and parsley can boost their vitamin levels.

Herb List

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Here’s a list of beneficial herbs that you can add to your chicken’s dust bath: – Tarragon – Thyme – Garlic – Ginger – Lavender – Mint View website article for complete list.

Items to Re-use

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You can reuse items that you’ve gathered around your yard, or home to create a dust bath for the chickens, such as: – Large sandbox – Swimming pools for kids – Large flat plastic bags – An old bathtub View the website article for a complete list and video showing how to use an old tire.

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more home & garden: natureofhome.com