Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[shoura]

My sis and BIL brought over some wood-ash from their fireplace and I put it in a cat litter tray and put it in the girls' run today.....one of them immediately spied it but instead of wallowing in it inside the litter tray she scratched a load of ash out onto the floor of the run and had a good bath there! It was fascinating towatch, she really enjoyed it!

But if they prefer the ash just on the floor of the run it's going to disappear in no time as it's going to get soggy and mix in wiht the litter on the floor. What do you put your chooks' dust-baths in??

[Redwing]

I use old tyres, they cant get the contents out and they also like to sit around the edges of the tyre

[shoura]

old tyres sound like a brilliant idea! will pop into the garage and see if they've got any going cheep!

[chick wiggle]

Try your local tip, shoura, they're free from there

[Space Chick]

Some chickens are scared of old tyres though, just ask Ain't "Ooops, word censored!"ody Here

[Christian]

I use a cat litter tray with a 'lip'. The ash from the fire goes down well with mine too

[suebee]

My WIR has a roof and protection from most of the 'horizontal' weather, so the floor is ordinary dry garden soil, which makes their indoor world, one big dustbath. I have tried containers and other floor coverings, but do like the girls to have a big enough bath so they can all 'get in' together. It's quite a social occasion, with soil flying everywhere, and a huge crater afterwards!

[suebee]

I've just seen a pic of two hens dust bathing in a very large plastic dog bed. Great idea! Loadsa room for a communal gathering! (Long as you remove the dog first though eh.... They had, by the way.)

[GillC]

A quick thank-you for starting this thread. I've been wracking my brain about what to give my girls to dustbath in in winter - they're so desperate sometimes the try to bathe in damp soil and end up looking very bedraggled.

 

We have a large fireplace where we burn wood and I'd never thought of using it for the hens. The bucket under the grate is at least 20cm deep and is ready to be emptied. And I have a spare litter tray

 

Dust bath heaven here we come.

[The Dogmother]

My run is covered over, they have an old enamel washbowl with woodash and Diatom in it.

[madchickenlady]

I use an old washing up bowl, although the chooks prefer large plant pots

[prof]

i have a large round old enamel wash bowl 2 it has 2 handles on either side and the other chucks like to sit on them and wait their turn i put dry soil, sand and diatom in mine. oh, and any ash 2

[pipistrelle]

Hello, complete novice here, due to get our cube Friday and our chicken on Saturday.

 

Can you use sand in a dust bath?

 

Thanks

 

P x

[Chickvic]

Hi pipistrelle, yes you can use sand, it has to be play sand though

[The Dogmother]

They like anything soft and dusty. Dried potting compost and woodash are also good

[pipistrelle]

Hi pipistrelle, yes you can use sand, it has to be play sand though

 

 

That's what I was thinking, have a couple of unused bags here

 

Thanks

 

P x

[henriette]

Thanks from me too as I had no idea I could use ash for a dust bath. We have tons of the stuff! Like the old plastic dog bed idea for a container, too.

Another thing I have found out recently is that moles and chickens work really well together. We have lots of moles but we don't have the heart to do anything about them, consequently we have masses and masses of mole hills. They have finally burrowed into the chicken area and guess what, the chooks just LOVE the lovely fine soil to bath in. At the same time all the soil is redistributed for us