Tried adding a sand bath area and my hens stopped dust bathing in my flowerpots

I had this one hen, a Buff Orpington named Butter, who kept scratching up all the dirt around my lavender plants. Every morning I'd find a crater where my seedlings used to be. So about 3 weeks ago I took an old kiddie pool, filled it with play sand and a little wood ash, and put it in the corner of the run. I swear within 2 days all 5 of them were using it instead of my garden beds. No more wrecked flowers. Has anyone else had luck with a specific sand mix? Mine seems to get clumpy after rain.

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wesley27d ago

You mentioned stirring it with a rake every couple days. Is the ash mixing in evenly that way, or does it just clump up on top of the sand? I'm trying to figure out if the wood ash is causing the clumping or if it's just the sand itself being too fine. My mix gets hard like concrete in spots if I don't break it up right after rain.

grant13027d ago

That sand plus wood ash mix is exactly what my buddy used down in Georgia. He said his got clumpy after rain too, so he just stirs it up with a rake every couple days and it dries right out. You try that yet?

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