Bird dust bath

Blackeyedjosie
by Blackeyedjosie
What kind of dirt do you use for an outdoor birds dust bath? Can I use sand? I’m planning on using a small dish and put it on the ground with my feeder and birdbath.

  4 answers
  • Mogie Mogie on Mar 08, 2018

    For our chickens we use ashes from our wood stove and sand for them to dust in.

  • Karla Karla on Mar 08, 2018

    What a great idea, I think I am going to do this. I found the following recipe: 1/3 sand, 1/3 soot from fire place. 1/3 very fine dirt. Keep adding more and more soot for a softer, dustier bath

  • Rose Broadway Rose Broadway on Mar 08, 2018

    There is very little info on this, but I did find a conversation on a message board, and several agreed that Chinchilla dust is best, and you can buy it at any pet store. I hope this works for you!

  • Linda Sikut Linda Sikut on Mar 08, 2018

    Hi Sdd18fan,

    There are a lot of articles online about bird dusting. Very few of them recommend sand. Most recommend dry, fine grain dirt. I did find a discussion from Backyard Chickens (chickens take dust baths too) and there were several different ideas. Click below to read the article. Wishing you the best.

    https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sand-or-dirt-for-dust-bath.1130598/