[alisonwo]

I want to get my girlys used to using a dustbath so I can put diatom in it, I got a rather large childrens playsand thingy from freecycle, and put a sack of bird sand in it, so far they won't even approach it.  I also tried a smaller underbed plastic box from Wilko with sieved soil in it, but they won't use that either.  any ideas??

[LittleRedHen]

I used a small cat sand tray and put bagged compost in it - the cheapest I could find - and my hens loved it.  In fact, they loved it so much that I got tired of refilling it and just let them get on with it in the garden.  Your hens may just be overwhelmed by the size?  I'm no expert.  Sorry.

[alisonwo]

Thank you little red hen.  I did wonder if that might be the problem, but I thought a cat litter tray might not be big enough, however willing to give anything a go for my girls.  I treat them better than my husband lol !

[SarahJC]

I gave them their own special dust bath with sand in, but they prefer the garden when the soil is dry (or not sometimes  )or their run when its damp 

[Miss Ellie]

I gave mine sand in a nice big container but no they prefer the compost in a planter. Now have happy dirty hens but no plants - they were eaten while bathing 

[bexy]

Mine have a en-suite in their run .
The run is now hard compacted soil (was grass) with an area in the corner where they have a dust bath every day and every day i have to backfill the holes for them sometimes having to top it up with some topsoil i had left over from my raised beds.