beach chick Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 (well, not for the direct users, the chooks, but for those who supply a dustbath!!) my girls are inside 50m of elec fence. when they were totally freerange I never bothered with a dustbath because they always made their own in the flower beds (hmm...). anyway, we moved them into the field and I decided to give them a 'proper' dustbath in an old wooden trug, which was too small and tended to fall over all the time. I've upgraded this today, with a big plastic garden potting tray - nice and wide, about 6" high, quite stable. so far I've put old potting compost and diatom in it - they're happy with anything. do I really need to add play sand? basically they chuck it everywhere, and seem to go in even if it has been raining and is hence a mud bath rather than a dust bath. do you just resign yourself to the fact that it will all be spilt and keep refilling, or am I missing a trick somehow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 You resign yourself that it will all be spilt and keep refilling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted September 9, 2008 Author Share Posted September 9, 2008 I rather thought that might be the case eg... in which case they can have elderly potting compost rather than playsand at £3 a bag which was all wet and rather nasty looking at the garden centre today!! (sugar had a bath today - she is no longer snowy white, but completely encased in mud!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I use cheap compost from B&Q. When I added a bag of play sand so pure and white it was like icing sugar.....and it cost a fortune......they wouldn't go near it. Madams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I just use lovely dry earth from Hubbie's greenhouse (and some Diatom but only if I have some in stock). And yes......same here....... keep refilling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I just use multi purpose in mine. I use a purple shallow tubtrug and I didnt think my lot would use it, but they LOVE it. It gets used a lot because they cant get out so much in this nasty weather so a dustbath in the run is perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggs Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 I have a large blue plastic trug about six inches deep which I half filled with mainly some compost that I had left over and a smaller amount of playsand. The girls love it and even though they free range within 50m of poultry netting I quite often see all four of them squished in their bath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
