It's the first day of July and it is another sweltering day for our region. Humidity was especially heavy today, and the chickens were feeling the HOT! Even in the shade, the poor girls were walking around with their beaks open and their tongues bopping up and down.
L suggested that I find a squirt bottle with some cool water. Spent about five minutes shooting a mist of water into their cage. They actually seemed to appreciate this cool down.
In the meantime, I was drying out some sand that I had purchased from the hardware store to put into their dust pan. Since we are continually moving their housing over pasture, they really don't get an opportunity to create a dirt patch for dust bathing. I noted this morning that Red was doing a lot of scratching with her toes around her neck and chest. I read up on how a large kitty litter pan can be used as an alternative dust bathing area. The sand in the bag was moist so we had to spread it out on a flat surface (cardboard) in the sun to get it dried first. Then I poured about an inch of sand into the pan (about 12" by 26" by 4"). I added about two cups of DE over the sand and we slipped the pan into the cage.
D expressed concern that there was no Momma hen available to teach them how to use it. We decided to just watch and try to coax them over to the pan, at least to reassure them that it was "OK." At first they stayed a long way away. After about five minutes of us sitting near the end of the cage with the new pan in place, the girls decided that it was time to investigate. Green was actually quite cute. She approached one end, wrapped one set of toes over the edge of the pan to seemingly test to see if it would support her weight. She leaned inwards over the pan bringing her other foot up and then jumped in to the pan and quickly jumped right back out. Blue walked all the way around the pan several times after that and seemed to verify that it wasn't going anywhere. Red and Orange stood back to watch the whole scenario. After Blue finished her inspection, Green came back and hopped in. Blue attempted to walk on the edge of the pan, but realizing that it was too narrow, opted to hop in and out of the pan before deciding that the sand in the pan might contain some food. Then all four chickens were in the pan pecking at the sand and investigating the possibility of some food.
Eventually, Green laid on her stomach/chest and started kicking and scratching at the sand, then stretching out her wings and flapping them until she was covered with dust, head to tail. The other three were still busy pecking at the sand when Green hopped out, totally bathed in dust. But, eventually, the other three took turns taking a dust bath, and hopefully, feeling so much better, afterwards.
I realize now that they will need at least another inch of sand in the box to make it easier for them to create a bit of a valley in the box to make it easier for them to coat themselves. I had read online, that it is best to have their dust bath far away from their food, and now I can see why that's important!
Update - These photos were taken the next day and it was a bit too hot for them to really get into rolling in the dust. Some of them did play in the sand, though.
Update - These photos were taken the next day and it was a bit too hot for them to really get into rolling in the dust. Some of them did play in the sand, though.
- The Box with two inches of sand plus DE.
- Finished checking on the contents of the box.
- Feeling sand between her toes.
- Blue and Red competing in the sand.
- Blue Wins.
- Green burrowing into the sand.
- Shifting positions before getting out.
- Orange taking her turn in the sand
- Stretching out for a preen.
- A full out preen of the tail feathers.
