How to Make a Dust Bath for Chickens and Best Sand to Use

Key Takeaways

• A dust bath for chickens is a dry, sheltered patch of loose material a hen lies in and kicks over her back. It cleans the feathers, takes off excess oil and smothers the mites that live on her.
• The right sand for a chicken dust bath is sharp sand, also called grit sand, graded 0 to 4mm. Play sand is too fine for the job and packs down when it gets damp.
• Sharp sand, dry soil and wood ash make the best dust bath mix. A sprinkle of red mite powder on top helps with prevention, topped up once a month.
• Hens make their own dust bath in any dry, sheltered spot with loose dirt in it, usually under a bush or in a corner of the run out of sight.
• A high-sided container such as a large seed tray gives hens somewhere to bathe when the run has no dry, loose patch of its own.

I remember visiting a customer who kept a few hens in a run at the bottom of her garden. She’d spent time setting up a dust bath for them, but couldn’t understand why they kept ignoring it. Instead, they’d taken to digging a shallow hollow alongside the fence, where the ground was dry and loose. When I looked at the bath, I could see the problem. It was filled with children’s play sand, which had become compacted and damp, so it was hardly surprising the hens preferred their own little patch of ground. Rather than keep moving the tray around or trying different ways to encourage them to use it, I suggested changing the material and giving the bath a more sheltered position. The important thing wasn’t making the bath look tidy or keeping it filled with something that felt soft to the touch. It was giving the hens the loose, dry material they were instinctively looking for.

This guide covers what to put in a chicken dust bath, which is the best sand to buy, where to put the tray, and what to do if your hens ignore it.

What should you put in a dust bath for chickens?

A dust bath for chickens needs dry, loose material a hen can throw over herself: sharp sand, dry soil or wood ash, alone or mixed. That is my whole chicken dust bath mix. The long ingredient lists you see online add cost and not much else. My personal choice is sharp sand, because it stays loose, drains fast and doesn’t rot. Dry soil is what hens pick for themselves, so a few spadefuls from a dry corner of the garden mixed through the sand makes them take to a tray faster. Wood ash is the third option, and I cover it on its own below. Some keepers still use peat. I don’t, because it’s in limited supply and sharp sand and dry soil do the same job.

Whatever goes in, the one rule is dry. A damp dust bath is a mud bath, and hens won’t use it. If the whole run turns to mud in winter, my guide on how to fix a muddy chicken run shows how to dry it out first.

Which sand is best for a chicken dust bath?

Sharp sand is the best sand for a chicken dust bath, because its coarse 0 to 4mm grains stay loose and drain straight through. The confusion comes from the names, and the names matter more here than almost anywhere else in the garden. Three sands turn up in this conversation, and only one of them belongs in the tray.

Play sand is the one most keepers reach for, and I understand why. It is clean, it is washed and it is sold for children to sit in. In a dust bath those are the wrong qualities. The grains are so fine that they clump, and a damp tray packs solid.

Building sand, which merchants also call soft sand, is the trap on the other side. It has silt and clay through it, which is exactly what makes it right for mortar and wrong for a dust bath. It holds water. Leave a tray of it out through a wet week and it sets like a biscuit.

Sharp sand sits between the two, and it is the chicken dust bath sand. The grains are big enough to stay loose and small enough to work through a hen’s feathers. I always kept a bag of it for the dust bath, and if you are thinking about a sand floor for the whole run, it is the same sand laid 10 to 15cm deep. I compare a sand floor with hardwood chip and the other run floors in my chicken run flooring guide.

Why do chickens need a dust bath?

Chickens need a dust bath because it is how they wash, kicking dry material up into the feathers and shaking it out with the stale oil and mites. A hen with no dust bath can still preen, but she can’t shift the oil and mites the same way. A dust bath does four things, it:

• cleans the feathers and strips the excess oil that builds up near the skin;
• smothers the lice and mites that live on the bird, which is why a hen with no dust bath picks up more of them;
• helps her control her body temperature; and,
• gives the flock something to do. A bored hen pecks the others, and a dust bath is one of the cheapest fixes for feather pecking I know.

Watch a flock on a warm afternoon and you will see them bathe together, three or four in the same hollow, then stand up and shake like a wet dog. That is a healthy flock doing exactly what it should.

How to make a DIY chicken dust bath

The way to make a DIY chicken dust bath is a high-sided container of sharp sand and dry soil, preferably in a sheltered corner they already use. Hens make their own in a dry, sheltered patch of the run with dirt in it, so a built one is for a run with nowhere natural to bathe. Here is how I would set one up:

1. Watch where they bathe. Hens pick a dry spot out of the wind, usually under a bush or against the coop, out of sight of anything that might eat them. Put the tray there, or as close as the run allows. A tray in the open middle of the run gets ignored.
2. Pick a high-sided container. Deep, large seed trays work well. High sides keep the filling in when a hen gets going. For two or three hens, aim for at least 60 x 40cm and 20cm deep, so a bird can lie flat and kick. A large cat litter tray (about 60 x 30cm) or a garden trug (about 30cm across) suits one or two hens. A frame of 20cm boards, about 60 x 60cm, suits a bigger flock.
3. Fill it. Sharp sand, with a few spadefuls of dry soil mixed through. A handful of wood ash if you have it, no more than 5% of the mix. Keep the top loose so the hens can scratch it up.
4. Add red mite powder. A sprinkle over the top for prevention, and again once a month when you top the tray up. It comes in two kinds. The man-made powders carry an insecticide, usually permethrin. The natural ones are mostly diatomaceous earth, a fine powder made from fossilised algae, sometimes with herbs added. I can’t vouch for either, because we never used it when I was a lad – but follow the instructions on the tub.
5. Cover it. If the spot is not already under a roof, a lid, a sheet of board or a tarpaulin over the tray between uses keeps the rain out. In a British winter the cover is what decides whether the bath gets used at all.

If the run has a dry patch of bare earth the hens already bathe in, you don’t need a container. Use their spot: loosen it, dig in a bucket of sharp sand and a handful of wood ash, and sprinkle red mite powder over it once a month.

Can you put wood ash in a chicken dust bath?

Wood ash does go in a chicken dust bath, as a handful, no more than 5% of the mix, rather than the whole tray. Hens like it, it is fine enough to work into the feathers, and it is free if you have access to a log burner.

Two cautions. Use only ash from plain wood, never coal ash and never ash from treated or painted timber, because what went into the fire ends up on the bird. And keep it dry. Wet wood ash turns caustic and can burn skin, which is the reason the ash share stays small and the tray stays covered. A mix that is mostly sand and soil with a dusting of ash through it is the safe way to use it.

Why won’t my chickens use their dust bath?

Chickens ignore a dust bath that is in the wrong place or has gone damp, and they go and dig their own instead. Nine times out of ten the tray is sitting in the open middle of the run, or it took a week of rain before anyone noticed.

Move it to where they already bathe, under cover, out of the wind. Check the filling is dry and loose, and break it up with your hand if it has packed. Make sure the tray is wide enough to lie in. And give it time. A new object in the run is treated with suspicion for a fortnight before it becomes part of the furniture. If they still prefer their own hollow in the run, let them. Dig a bucket of sharp sand and a handful of wood ash into it, and sprinkle red mite powder on top. They’ve supplied the soil themselves. The hens have already told you where the dust bath goes.

How much sand does a dust bath need?

A dust bath for two or three hens takes about 60kg of mix, most of it sharp sand, for a 60 x 40cm tray filled 15cm deep. After that it’s a bucket now and then. Put your tray’s size into the sand calculator to find out exactly how much you need and get an instant price estimate. Sharp Sand comes in an 850kg bulk bag, about 0.53m³, which is a lot more than one tray needs. It earns its place when you have other jobs for it, such as for the floor under a fully covered run. For a run on open ground, hardwood chip is still the floor I recommend, and my guide to wood chip for chicken runs covers how deep to lay it. A bag of sand kept dry is a bag of sand in ten years. Keep the top of the bag closed and it will not spoil.

Next Steps

A dust bath for chickens comes down to three things: sharp sand, a dry sheltered spot the hens already use, and a cover to keep the rain off. Get the sand right and the rest is a tray and a tarpaulin.

We stock Sharp Sand in an 850kg bulk bag at £140 before delivery, for the dust bath and any other jobs you have for it, and we deliver nationwide. For the run floor on open ground, Chicken Run Hardwood Chips are the chip I recommend, seasoned hardwood at 10 to 30mm, and the bark and wood chip calculator works out how much you need and gives you an instant price estimate. If you would like to talk with us, call Outdoor Aggregates on 0330 043 7585. The office is open 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.

Have you ever built a dust bath for your hens? What did you fill it with, and did they use it or dig their own? We would love to hear how it went.

FAQs

Can chickens use play sand for a dust bath?

Play sand is the wrong sand for a chicken dust bath, because its grains are so fine they clump and pack down when damp. Sharp sand at 0 to 4mm stays loose and drains, which is what a hen needs.

Is sharp sand safe for chickens?

Sharp sand is safe for chickens in a dust bath and on a run floor, because the washed 0 to 4mm grains are too coarse to hang in the air. It drains as soon as it gets wet, and it is the sand I recommend for both jobs.

What is the best mix for a chicken dust bath?

The best chicken dust bath mix is mostly sharp sand with some dry soil through it and a handful of wood ash, no more than 5% of the mix. A sprinkle of red mite powder goes on top, and the whole lot stays dry and loose.

How often should a chicken dust bath be topped up?

A chicken dust bath needs topping up about once a month, with a fresh sprinkle of red mite powder at the same time. Sand does not break down, so you are only replacing what the hens carry out on their feathers.

Do chickens need a dust bath in winter?

Chickens need a dust bath in winter as much as in summer, because mites do not stop for the cold and the garden soil is too wet. A covered tray in a sheltered corner of the run is what keeps them bathing from November to March.