The perfect sand bath for your chickens – why a dust bath and how to do it properly?

With a sand bath, you offer your chickens the ideal all-round wellness package. You enable them to engage in their natural behavior – brooding – by cleaning their feathers. This ensures their well-being and prevents infestation by red mites and other parasites such as ticks, fleas, and lice, among others.

Beginners, in particular, are unsure what the ideal dust bath should look like. How big should it be, and what is the right location? How deep should the sand bath be? What type of sand is best? Is a tub better, or a creative solution like a tractor tire or a dog house?

We'll give you the best tips for bathing your hens. Whether you're getting chickens for the first time or you're just looking for new ideas for keeping chickens, you'll find plenty of new ideas and useful information here.

Why do chickens need a dust bath?

Anyone who's ever watched a chicken bathe can imagine that brooding is a lot of fun. The hen lies down, rolls around happily, and shakes herself to her heart's content. You can usually observe the bath at midday, like a kind of lunch break in the warm sand. The chicken can spend up to 30 minutes cleaning itself!

In fact, bathing also has very practical reasons: Chickens clean themselves this way, removing dirt and grease from their feathers. Just like when we humans shower and wash our hair and bodies with soap.

In addition, a sand bath is also the ideal way to prevent mites, ectoparasites, and other pests, or to combat them in acute cases. The sand prevents the parasites from surviving on the host chicken, causing them to fall off. The chicken takes any dust particles in their feathers back into the coop, where they also make life difficult for red mites and other pests.

By the way: If you don't offer your chickens a dust bath, sooner or later they will probably dig up a piece of your lawn on their own initiative and have fun brooding in the hole.

The ideal location, size and cleaning of the sand bath

Where should I place the dust bath? In short, it should be under cover or protected from rain. If the sand gets wet, it will become a mud pit, and your chickens will understandably not enjoy brooding in it. Make sure the sand stays dry and fluffy.

The roof also provides protection from birds of prey and other aerial predators. While relaxing and preening their feathers, your chickens will happily forget the worries of everyday life and relax without fear.

A variety of objects are suitable as a roof: a tarp, a huge piece of pipe, e.g., made of concrete, an old table, or the canopy of your chicken coop. A fir tree in your run can also be used as a roof, provided the branches provide sufficient protection. If you decide to use a dog house as a wellness bath, you have the roof integrated directly.

Besides the roof, there are other things to consider. You shouldn't place the dust bath directly at the entrance to the chicken coop. Your hens probably like to defecate immediately after leaving the coop. To prevent the bath from getting dirty as they walk by, it's a good idea to leave plenty of space between the door and the sand bath.

If you have flight-loving chickens in your flock, you should place the sand bath and canopy well away from the fence. Otherwise, you'll provide them with the perfect launching pad for escaping from the outdoor run.

If you've built a feeding station in your run, it's a good idea to include a dust bath there as well. This saves you building materials and labor, and kills two birds with one stone.

How big does the sand bath need to be for my chickens?

The right size of the dust bath depends on the body size of your chickens. For normal-sized breeds, it should generally be up to 40 cm deep and cover one square meter. However, for bantams or quails, a lower height and half a square meter of space are naturally sufficient.

It is important that the sand bath has an edge over which the chickens can easily climb in. However, it must be high enough so that the sand or Cumbasil Mite stays exactly where it belongs: in the bathroom!

Of course, the size of your flock also plays a role. If you have a lot of chickens, you should set up two or more dust baths, or adjust the size of one accordingly. Each of your hens wants the opportunity to brood.

Tub, tires or build it yourself?

If you want to build your own dust bath for your chickens, there are many options. It requires no DIY skills and is super quick to do.

You can dig a hole and cover the ground with a tarp to prevent weeds. Stones are a good option for a border. But you can also get even more creative. An old tractor tire, for example, is a great option and is the perfect height and size. For bantams, a car tire will do.

You can use a simple tub, a food barrel, or a mortar bucket, a sufficiently large fruit crate, or a children's sandbox. Maybe you even have something lying around in your corner or you can ask around at your friends' houses.

Another option is a dog house. This has the advantage that you don't have to worry about the roof, because it's already there. You can either set up the sand bath directly on the floor of the house, or you can dig a hole under the floor and line it with a tarp. Then you remove the floor of the house, and your chickens can roam contentedly in the earth, sand, and Cumbasil Mite scratch.

Which sand is best for the chickens' dust bath?

Very fine sand without sharp edges or corners is best for the dust bath. Ash from a campfire, tiled stove, or barbecue is also a good idea—but only if you haven't used store-bought charcoal! It can contain unhealthy additives.

The sand bath is really successful with Cumbasil Mite The mineral powder adheres even better to the plumage than sand, making it significantly more effective at combating mites and ectoparasites. The silicon it contains also ensures healthy and shiny plumage.

To improve their acceptance of Cumbasil Mite, you can first mix in one-fifth of the potting soil. The chickens may be reluctant at first, but with a little courage and time, they'll love the intensive bath with the powder.

Cleaning and replacing sand in the chicken bath

The frequency with which you should change the sand depends on the degree of dirt and therefore also on the size of your flock. Generally speaking, if droppings, leaves, or small twigs have collected in it, you can first pick them out individually and dispose of them.

However, if the sand becomes lumpy or too dirty, it's time for a complete change. Your chickens may have "washed off" mites and other pests that are now contaminating the bath. Check it regularly so your hens can continue bathing happily.