Are you sick of your chickens digging up your lawn or garden? Are you fed up with them scratching up your plants or destroying your flower beds? If so, information technology may be time to learn how to make a dust bath for chickens.

Chickens need dust baths to keep themselves make clean and bug-free, and they will take i with or without a dedicated infinite. And then, if you lot want your chickens to accept a dust bath somewhere that won't destroy plants or make a mess, you may want to make them their bathing spot.

Lucky for you, nosotros know just how to make the perfect chicken dust bath and will requite you all the tips and tricks you demand to know to keep your flock happy.

How To Make a DIY Chicken Dust Bath

Making a craven grit bath shouldn't be a long-drawn-out process. Information technology volition only take y'all a few minutes and is worth the effort. Here is how we suggest making the perfect dust bath for your flock.

Pace 1. Find Infinite

How-To-Make-a-DIY-Chicken-Dust-Bath

Back yard craven coops have the convenience of creating a dust bathing area out of just well-nigh annihilation you have laying around that is shallow enough for your chickens to jump into. Some of the often used items include:

  • Wooden pallets or woods shavings
  • A sandbox
  • A kiddie pool
  • Old logs
  • Shallow bins
  • Old safety tires

If y'all would prefer to dig a pigsty near the chicken coop, that is besides a great pick.

Step two: Add Filler

In one case y'all have called the right spot for the craven'due south dust bathroom and you know what container you want to use, you need to fill it with dirt and ash, so your chickens have plenty of dry out dirt to get things squeamish and dusty.

Any soil from your backyard or gardens will be perfect for the job; yous tin can as well run to the hardware store and catch some peat moss or topsoil if you'd adopt not to have it from your g.

2d, y'all will want to get a good amount of wood ash; information technology tin come from the burn pile (every bit long as there are no other burnt materials in it that can harm your flock.) The wood ash is going to keep insects from invading the chicken grit bathroom and causing an infestation.

Step iii: Dust Bath Mixture

Fill your container up with half wood ash and half-dry out dirt. Mix information technology thoroughly. Proceed the dirt bath as dry as possible; you lot do not want your chickens taking mud baths.

It is a groovy time to add prophylactic weeds and plants to the soil along with fresh or dried herbs. Herbs such as basil, oregano, parsley, mint, and lavander are perfectly safe for your chickens and serve two positive purposes.

Good for their Health: Many of the herbs you tin purchase dry or grown on your own provide a lot of nutritional value to your chicken'due south diet and gut wellness. Herbs like basil tin boost chicken'southward allowed systems, lavender is great for blood apportionment and stress relief, and lemon balm is high in antibacterial properties.

Repels Insects: Most herbs (especially when dried) volition keep the insect and other niggling pests away from your craven'due south dust bath. It will continue your chickens from becoming infested with things such as mites or lice. Information technology will prevent them from pecking at parasites that may requite them worms.

Footstep 4: Add together a Craven Garden (optional)

Y'all can consider adding a grazing and pecking garden adjacent to your dust bath. This is another manner to help chickens stay healthy while they do their thing. You can add plants and vegetation such as:

  • Lavender
  • Basil
  • Dill parsley
  • White clover
  • Sunflowers
  • Garlic
  • Beets
  • Cucumber corn
  • Dandelions

These are only a few of the many plants you should consider adding to your chicken bathing area; it will keep them healthy and happy and keep them out of yours.

Why Chickens Require a Grit Bath Area

Why Chickens Require a Dust Bath Area

Now you lot know how to make a dust bath, but do yous know why your chickens need one? Believe information technology or not, chickens cover themselves in dust and dirt to keep themselves clean and healthy.

Sounds a bit strange, right? Information technology may sound a petty out there, but give us a minute, and it will outset to make sense.

Chickens accept oil glands that often kick into loftier gear and overproduce. Since chickens use their feathers to evenly distribute the oils effectually their bodies the oil can get overwhelming.

This is where the dirt and ash come up into play. When there is too much oil for your bird to control, they will take a quick romp around the dust pile and let the loose clay to soak upwards all the extra oil. So, while dust bathing may be fun for your craven, it is also very refreshing.

The second reason a grit bath is very crucial to your flock's health. It keeps insects and parasites at bay. When coated in dry out dust, pests such equally mites and lice cannot survive for long, keeping an infestation from inhabiting your chicken coop.

How Practice Chickens Take a Grit Bath?

Once your chicken is ready to accept a grit bath, you are going to know information technology. Not only are you going to see i chicken crouched down scratching and flapping its wings, but it's likely the whole flock volition be there too.

Dust bathing is essential for the health of a chicken. However, that doesn't mean they don't enjoy information technology as well. This will usually plow into the social outcome of the night. When 1 chicken starts to boot the dust-up, the rest will follow.

Dust Bathing

When your chickens accept decided it is bath time, they will go to an area (their dust bath if they have one) and outset to scratch at the footing until they take a space to sit in. They volition so crouch down and start flapping their wings while continuing to scratch.

You volition meet them swaying, rolling, and flopping all around, assuasive the clay to cover them from beak to tail. Afterwards about xv minutes or so, your birds volition get up and movement along.

Concluding Thoughts

Dust baths are essential for your chicken to maintain good physical and mental health and are a natural office of life for many animals to stay clean and pest-free. Making your dust bathroom is super simple to do, and your chickens will be happy you did.