new chickens

[hawthorns]

as from tomorrow we would have had the chickens and the eglu for a week. its been brilliant. ive tried to do as much research on what to give the chickens for food, treats and their general wellbeing. ive read the forum on here and on omlet as well as asking other chicken keepers. there are lots of things you can do and everyone has different ideas which makes it confusing. i ve made the decision that reguarding food ill stay on the organic layers pellets and add some grit. garlic powder will be added to the food. apple cider vinegar will be incorporated into the water to aid the gut. ill try a cat litter with play sand for their dust bathing and add diatomaceous earth to keep the mites away.

[Snadger]

as from tomorrow we would have had the chickens and the eglu for a week. its been brilliant. ive tried to do as much research on what to give the chickens for food, treats and their general wellbeing. ive read the forum on here and on omlet as well as asking other chicken keepers. there are lots of things you can do and everyone has different ideas which makes it confusing. i ve made the decision that reguarding food ill stay on the organic layers pellets and add some grit. garlic powder will be added to the food. apple cider vinegar will be incorporated into the water to aid the gut. ill try a cat litter with play sand for their dust bathing and add diatomaceous earth to keep the mites away.

Well done hawthorns! Only one small point to add..........I purchased some diatomaceous earth as well then found out it isn't all sweetness and light even though it is organic. I visit poultrychat.com quite regularily and read some disturbing facts about it on there. If you haven't already purchased it try and get the FULL story before doing so and make your own mind up.
Basically it is silicon based and any you breathe in and get in your lungs will be there for ever (similar to asbestos causing asbestosis)
Sorry if this comes across as scaremongering, but it's best you know both sides of the story.

PS I've bought some prior to this knowledge and am still using it because I am an auld fart and will be dead before it could take effect anyway!

[Flummery]

I'd also think carefully about cat litter. It is very absorbent - that's why it's good at its job with cats! However, hens will eat their dust bath contents - no doubts about it - and cat litter is a real no-no to eat.

[hawthorns]

i was gonna fill a cat litter tray with sand and dry multi purpose compost not cat litter.

any other ideas on what to add instead of diatomaceous earth as i wanted to add it to the dust bath to prevent mites

[shirlthegirl43]

When I was at the farmer's co-op today buying chook supplies, I think I spotted red mite powder. I suppose you could put some of that into the sand?

[Flummery]

I'd go with that Shirley.

[MaureenHall]

Sorry, but I disagree about putting stuff in the sand pit to treat the possible lice and mites, the chooks WILL eat it. Better to powder the chooks themselves individually and dust the coop with the red mite powder. Any lice on the chooks will be dried and shaken off by the chooks having their dust baths. If you dust them on a regular basis (I do mine monthly) and dust the coop at the same time, there shouldn't be any problems. I must admit that I've never actually seen anything on the chickens or in the coop, but I'm doing it as a preventative rather than a curative.

[JackieAt]

we use sand and compost and our 3 love it. Our white star generally ends up black but happy
We also use a large plant pot dish which is deep enough that they dont chuck it all out. So much fun to watch have your camera handy

[chicken slave]

My lovely lot like have a dust bath in the veg patch not far from the run entrance, it is so funny to watch and if your not actually in the veg garden all you can see is compost flying through the air. I was going to do the purpose built dust bath thing but I can't take away their fun in the veg patch, it just wouldn't be cricket. They also enjoy running up the compost heap and sliding down it (rowdy kids), hours of enjoyment watching them for the cost of a bag of chook food and a clean coop.

[Noodle]

Mine have 3 dustbaths in the garden! 2 are in the roots of trees as it stays so dry and a new one was created a couple of days ago at the edge of the lawn, looks a odd, but they seem to love it!