Pullets aren't dust bathing.

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Littlemisspepperpot

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Pullets aren't dust bathing.
« on: September 26, 2021, 20:08 »
Hi all,
Can you help me please?
I don't think my young bantam hens are dust bathing. I have a cat litter sized tray of dust and have made an area under the coop too. Bot contain dirt, sand, DE and some mint leaves. I had my suspicions so yesterday afternoon I dusted the top with a bit more DE. I checked today and the sprinkles are untouched. What is going wrong and should I dust them with DE myself weekly until this resolves? I've have my hens only a few weeks but have never seen them bathe. I'm getting worries Bow as I know how important it is to their wellbeing.  Thank you.

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grinling

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Re: Pullets aren't dust bathing.
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2021, 10:47 »
could be cat tray is too small, I used a plastic sand pit. they like to dust together!!
Under the coop? how much space is there to get in and fluff around?
they prefer to dust bathe in sunshine.
hens do not dust bathe on a daily basis, so patience.

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New shoot

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Re: Pullets aren't dust bathing.
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2021, 10:56 »
Are they finding their own spot, particularly if you are letting them out to roam.  Mine have always routinely ignored a pre-prepared dust bath and made their own and some hens do just dust bathe more than others.  As they get older, they may take to it more.

There is no urgent need to dust them weekly unless you see a problem.  Depending on how well they take handling, you might just scare them off you for life.  I would concentrate on getting them used to you and see if you can work up to them tolerating a bit of handling, preferably with treats so they view it as not a bad thing at all.  If you can check them over, you can look for mites and/or lice.

To keep mites out of the coop, I usually sprinkle a bit of DE into the bedding.  One of our old members Hillfooter, used to mix DE with water and paint it over the inside of wooden coops and a lot of people swore by that method. 

It is lovely to hear from a chicken newbie who has the welfare of their birds so first and foremost in their mind, but if they are kept healthy and the housing is clean, you should be able to avoid a lot of problems without too much effort  :)
« Last Edit: September 27, 2021, 10:59 by New shoot »

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Littlemisspepperpot

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Re: Pullets aren't dust bathing.
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2021, 12:01 »
Are they finding their own spot, particularly if you are letting them out to roam.  Mine have always routinely ignored a pre-prepared dust bath and made their own and some hens do just dust bathe more than others.  As they get older, they may take to it more.

There is no urgent need to dust them weekly unless you see a problem.  Depending on how well they take handling, you might just scare them off you for life.  I would concentrate on getting them used to you and see if you can work up to them tolerating a bit of handling, preferably with treats so they view it as not a bad thing at all.  If you can check them over, you can look for mites and/or lice.

To keep mites out of the coop, I usually sprinkle a bit of DE into the bedding.  One of our old members Hillfooter, used to mix DE with water and paint it over the inside of wooden coops and a lot of people swore by that method. 

It is lovely to hear from a chicken newbie who has the welfare of their birds so first and foremost in their mind, but if they are kept healthy and the housing is clean, you should be able to avoid a lot of problems without too much effort  :)
  Thank you so much for your reply. I dust with DE every fee days and have painted the inside as suggested above on the first weekend that I got my new coop so this makes me happy that I'm doing everything I can for my lovely girls. I will look into providing a slightly bigger area to bathe.  :D

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Littlemisspepperpot

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Re: Pullets aren't dust bathing.
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2021, 12:07 »
could be cat tray is too small, I used a plastic sand pit. they like to dust together!!
Under the coop? how much space is there to get in and fluff around?
they prefer to dust bathe in sunshine.
hens do not dust bathe on a daily basis, so patience.
  Thank you for your reply.  I will definitely look into a bigger bath for them but after reading the replies I feel better now so thanks again.  :D



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