Chicken love dirt baths, which is a very good thing since dust bathing is actually good for them! Not only do dust baths encourage preening and fight against parasites, they make for happy chickens (which is helpful in keeping the whole flock happy).
Some people install dust bathing areas for their chickens and include dirt, soil, ashes and diatomacious earth. However, we’ve never created a specific dirt bath area for the ladies and we’ve never encountered any issues with sicknesses or parasites. Maybe it’s just that our hot dry climate allows for plenty of bathing in their run without any additional materials needed? To date, the Ladies just push aside the straw bedding that covers the floor of their run and create their own bath tub.
Warning, copious funny chickens shots will ensue…
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Hi there – I’m brand new here, but got here via one of your comments on another site (two men and a little farm). I’m looking into doing the large, galvanized bathtub style beds for some bamboo… Sorry, this comment has nothing to do with chickens, but I guess I’m just trying to touch base with someone who has some experience… 🙂
Hi there, SoLow! Thanks for popping over! While we don’t grow bamboo here (it’s just way to dry to be sustainable), given our experience with our galvanized tub, I’d say it would work out well for you since it will hold water well and bamboo needs to stay very moist. I would recommend putting some plastic bottles in the bottom of your tub before putting in your soil as it will wind up being a *lot* of soil which can become very expensive and very heavy 😉