New hens not going into Eglu Go Up

[cheekychook]

Hi,

My ex batts are doing just great - they are still in their run but are due to go out in the wider garden this weekend when its been completely "proofed" so they don't run off! I made up a dust bath with soil and sand in a large cat litter tray and they seemed very interested in it and I see then regularly walking through it deliberately (sometimes back and forward for a wee while!) - but none of them have used it for dust bathing - am I doing something wrong or is it something they will do naturally when they are out in the garden or do they just not understand it?. They seem to enjoy walking in it so I have left it in the run - Its probably didn't make it any better that when I put it in the run one of the girls found a wee insect that was in it from the soil - so she keeps looking at it in the hope there is more! What do other people use for the dust baths? I wil try and get a picture of one of them standing in it!

[Sky]

I am sure they will use it. Mine use theirs' when the sun shines and more in the evenings - they love it. I put soft sand and dirt from the garden in mine and they usually have a good root around. I have one large tray and an couple of half trugs in the run all with the same combination in and they all use all of them

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Mine just dustbathe anywhere they fancy . I gave them a cat litter tray full of lovely stuff when they were in the Omlet run - they ignored it. In their WIR I got them a lovely tyre, again lovingly filled with dustbath ingredients - they were so scared of it I had to take it out .

 

They'll just do it where they choose .

[Ness3103]

i was wondering what to put in the dust bath, i've got an old baby bath and want to put something that they'll enjoy in it but don't know what. the earth in my garden isn't nice at all can you put compost in it cos my tesco has some on offer at the moment? also what kind of sand would you use?

[Mrs Slats]

Don't worry. they will get here eventually. It took our girls 10 months to discover the delights of dustbathing.

 

It was a real treat when they finally worked it out We have play sand and potting soil in our dustbath... but they seem to prefer rolling around in the hemcore and woodchip that lines the run.

[Sky]

I just buy the super soft sand from the local builders merchants (about £2.00 a bag) and add a bit of red mite power to it - they love it We now have three different containers of this mixture in the chicken run and it is all used every day

Edited May 17, 2009 by Guest

[sandyhas3chucks]

when I 1st got my 3 exbats I found that feeding them mash in a large tray meant less mess. Then Meany(RIP darlin') had her 1st dust bath in it. Soooo lovely, brings tears to my eyes remembering. So sweet

[cheekychook]

Thanks for that - it makes it so much less worrying when I can get the advice of you all. Edwina laid a "softie" egg last night - in fact there was two under her and she didn't want treats as she usually does. She seems lively today but only one egg from all of them- usually we get 3 or 4 from the girls - wonder if its connected? After reading teh forum I am going to withdraw the treats of grapes and lettuce and see if it helps - maybe they are not eating as much ex batt crumbs - although they seem to be getting thru it. I will let you know what happens

thanks again for everyone's advice - i will persevere with the dustbath and see what happens.

[Space Chick]

I used horticultural sand (and earth) in mine, as they don't use any chemicals in the horticultural sand. I got it from my local garden centre.