If you haven’t seen a chicken taking a dust bath and rolling around on their side, tossing dirt on their backs and under their wings, it can be quite amusing to watch. There is a reason they do this, and it does have a purpose and no, it is not for our entertainment. It is to clean themselves, but not in the sense of being squeaky clean like us after a good soak in the tub, far from it. This is a way for them to rub off and rid themselves of bugs, such as lice or mites. A good coating of dust on their feathers and skin creates a film of dirt which smothers those pesky little critters making them less desirable to being a host. This dirt can also act as a natural sunscreen, on areas where there is feather loss and the chicken’s skin is exposed. And on really hot days, this also helps the chickens keep cool, by digging down into the cool earth. Lastly, the dust and dirt also aids in absorbing any excess buildup of oils on their feathers, keeping the feathers healthy, strong, and gleaming.
So, what do you do when the ground freezes, the wind is blowing, or snow and ice has covered their yard and it is just plain ole miserable to be outside?
Well, this is what we do. We give them a dust bathing area inside their coop. We’ve done several iterations
of a bathing tub over the years. From an Small 9 Gal. 26 in. x 7 in. plastic pond that I wasn’t using as a garden feature anymore. Which worked fine, but was a bit small....
Then we tried using 2 metal wash tubs... We love these 17 gallon tubs and they are very handy for all sorts of uses on the farm, not just for dust baths. Again, just too small...
Each year we have had to come up with something bigger, as we had too many chickens wanting to take baths all at the same time. And it just didn’t look like it seemed very comfortable to see 5 chickens cramming themselves into a wash tub trying to roll around and toss dirt.
So, this year we are trying something new, a larger space for them to take their dust baths in. We repurposed some rough cut 1 x12 pine boards from an old pool fence and turned it into a 4 x 4 frame. First, laying a large piece of cardboard down on the coop floor and setting the frame on top of that. They are absolutely loving it, with plenty of room to sprawl out. Though there is still the issue of them tossing the “dirt” medium used outside of the frame, but they have the space finally, and are not crowded as they were in the previous tubs.
You may be wondering what we use as a dirt medium? After watching where they were going to take their dust baths during the summer, we noticed that their favorite spot was in the dry composted areas under several large white pines. The soil there was dry, brittle, and resembles that of Peat Moss or Sphagnum moss broken down. Peat Moss is relatively inexpensive to purchase. Each fall we get 2 large blocks of Peat Moss, which for us lasts throughout the winter months. When we are adding this to the bathing container, we typically make a layer that is about 4 inches deep and add more as needed. We also add wood ashes from the woodstove to the mixture, not only is it great "dust" material, the chunks of charcoals are also beneficial for chickens to snack on. It can help aid in removing toxins and parasites from their digestive system and can also help in reducing the amount of ammonia that they produce in their manure. Be sure to only use wood ashes from clean wood; wood that hasn't been treated with any chemicals or had any additional additives added to the fire. Also, be sure that the wood ashes have cooled completely before adding to dusting tubs.
I hope this gives you some ideas on how to help maintain happy and healthy chickens in the cold winter months. It’s always a learning experience when it comes to figuring out what works best for your situation, space, and the size of your flock.
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