How To Make an Indoor Dust Bath For Your Chickens

One fine day I was having tea with a few of my friends – it was a small chit chat session which we used to enjoy like anything. We all belong to different states of mind but enjoy each other’s company. I had a big farm kind of a thing; I had lots of adorable backyard creatures. I adapted to this hobby because I grew up seeing my father treating these cute little fellows as a family. Keeping chickens is indeed one of the interesting habits, and this was what I had been debating upon, on the tea table the other day. My friends considered keeping chickens as one of the most annoying habits because of the 2 major reasons, parasites in chickens and poops. I mean c’mon this is something that is of least concern – there is ample amount of ways through which poop management can be carried out effectively.

Likewise, making sure that chickens are germs and parasite free seem to be an easy task now – little knowledge is dangerous that’s what I said the other day and put a full stop to the debate. How do I manage all this, especially taking care of the chickens – here is the secret?

Chicken dust baths – what is this now?

Something you must have not heard before, but very essential to know if you have even a single hen. Dust bathing can be referred to the ultra comfortable spa treatment for the little babies. Sounds hilarious? It’s indeed recreational and functional at the same time. In general, dust bathing is like a normal shower for chickens and after this bath, they feel more relaxed, clean and healthy. After the bath the chickens are in a really good mood and they try to socialize with other fellows as well.

Indoor dust bath:

The indoor dust bath is nothing extraordinary but a dust box that you create and place inside the chicken coop. It’s created a setup where chickens take their dust bath with fellows or individually – they relax and enjoy their time.

Recipe for dust bathing:

You must be thinking what does the dust bath box comprise of? Well there is no such recipe for that, but yes a few useful materials can help your chickens in enjoying their spa treatment. The box contains a mixture of pine shavings, sand, fireplace ash, mulch and soil – chickens toss their bodies into this mixture and get rid of all the parasites, unwanted feathers and other mites. The sand mixture also absorbs the unwanted oil on the skin and the body of the chickens.

You must take necessary measures to repel parasites otherwise your chickens would get into trouble – this may result in;

• Weight loss
• Feather damage
• Irritation
• Improper egg production

Other benefits of dust bath:

Especially in summers when the birds fail to stand against the temperature, they prefer digging down into the dust boxes so that they can retain coolness. The soil is cooler inside the box, especially those placed inside the coops. It’s very beautiful to see the chicken behavior during this entire process – they  walk with attitude to the box, think of themselves as something really special, they dig there, have fun and then come out after some time. They boldly shake off the entire dust and dirt, groom the feathers and go back to their coop areas.

What are other ways to control parasites in chickens?

A healthy chicken would never be exposed to any of the parasitic disease. The herbs for chicken health – you must severe these cute fellows with juicy fruits, vegetables and natural food. This would help them in retaining necessary vitamins, minerals and strength their immune system. Sadly, when chickens are exposed to diseases, the chances of retaining health back are quite low, in fact hardly anyone survives.

Dust bath areas – birds are choosy at times:

You cannot study chicken behavior all the time – they are really moody.  Free range chickens will choose their own areas for dust bathing. The materials that I have mentioned are adored by almost every chicken – I have an ample amount of fellows so I can conclude this easily. I hope by now you have enough idea how to provide finest spa treatment to the chickens.