# Dust Baths



## mikephx (Nov 18, 2015)

So what are the thoughts for using ashes from a wood burnt fire for dust bath??


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

They love them and they help with keeping the mites down. We quit burning a few years ago because of allergies. We had a pile of ashes that trees had grown over that the chickens discovered and they had a heyday. Everyone of them looked liked ghosts!!


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## mikephx (Nov 18, 2015)

Good to know! I am about to clean out my fire pit and bought the perfect container from my feed store to dump the ashes into and slide into their run! Just wanted to make sure the ashes weren't harmful or something ;-)


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## Feline (Nov 8, 2015)

I use kiln dried sand with diatomaceous earth mixed in with it for their dust bath. I don't have access to ashes though!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Usually people that use them have them mixed with dirt. I keep forgetting to use what we have from burning brush, I swear I will remember before they all die of old age. I'd go out and get them now except they're all wet from all of the rain we got.


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## mikephx (Nov 18, 2015)

At what age/point do they typically start dusting themselves?


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

The ashes that ours used were several years old so I had forgotten about them. We have a fire pit that I can use, but like Robin we've had so much rain that haven't had a fire for several months.


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## mikephx (Nov 18, 2015)

Ya I used the ashes from my fire pit. When do chicks start dusting themselves typically?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Pretty young. I've seen some of mine do it before they lost their baby fluff.


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## mikephx (Nov 18, 2015)

Oh wow! Then I must be late! Mine are 8 weeks old and I just set it up today!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mine didn't usually do the dirt because they were still confined to their pen in the coop. So, it was done in the shavings. I think what they were doing was copying what Momma was doing.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Mine use sand. My hatchlings do it as soon as they get put on sand outside. Must be in their blood.


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

My chickens love soil. Like they scratch up my garden beds looking for worms then dust bath in the dirt n soil. Next time they r in my planter box I will take a pic. It's like 10 feet long so half of my chickens sit in it at once


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