Wood Ash and Chickens

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Bramax

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I have just read an article in a freebie magazine that suggests putting cold wood ash in the chicken house in the winter for them to scratch around in and dust bathe in.

Sounds like a good way of using the ash from our woodburner, and I was wondering if other people have tried it?
I also have a couple of concerns and wondered if anyone can advise me. Firstly we always use firelighters to get our woodburner going so is it still OK to use the ash or do I need to learn to light the fire without firelighters? Also most of the time we just burn wood, but if we do use coal or smokeless fuel to boost the stove could we still use the ash for the chickens?
 
Whenewer I burn wood,paper or just weeds from my garden I adding this ash for they dustbath.I do not think you should give them ash if you using coal,but maybe I'm wrong as coal is made from wood :-)19
 
I would think coal ash would be likely to have oily residues in it and would be rather messy perhaps. So long as you don't overdo the firelighters I shouldn't think one or two bits would make a lot of difference blended in with the larger volume of wood burned. But it would be better to learn to do without them - I start our bonfires with a weed- wand, ie a sort of flame torch powered by a small gas cylinder which acts as a gas poker and really gets things going quickly every time. I (I bought it to deal with weeds between cracks on the drive and it's useless for that but marvellous for starting fires!) always add woodash from a bonfire to the dustbath, mixed with earth and diatom, but if you mean by 'the chicken house' the coop they sleep in, I should think this would make a terrible mess in there and perhaps breathing the fine dust wouldn't be good for the birds at night.
 
Good point about the dust Marigold, last thing you want is chest infections in Winter! Ours live on a Brownfield site -over the last 200 years it has been a dumping ground for soot, coal ash and bonfire ash. Very fertile now with fruit trees and lawns but with the stuff in the soil the hens poo black and get very dirty in the dust baths.
 
I also use wood ash mixed with seived garden soil and dust it with Barrier red mite powder. My chooks have a 3' square x 8" deep dust bath on the allotment which has a hinged lid to keep out the rain and cats! I am keeping it closed at the moment as they are all moulting and I read somewhere that they can damage there quills if they bathe. Hoping to rig something up in the run over the winter as the contents will stay a lot drier in there than outside. Not that their spoilt you understand! :roll:
 
bantiekeeper said:
! I am keeping it closed at the moment as they are all moulting and I read somewhere that they can damage there quills if they bathe.
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erm, correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't bathing help them keep circulation up to produce the quills and shed the sheaths? not to mention reduce ingrown ones and coat the bare skin to keep warm!

never heard of bathing, which is natural for them, being bad. :shock:
 
Thanks for the reply Bertie. Perhaps I had a senior moment and misread that info. I will take your advice and open up the dust bath for them tomorrow. :-)17
 
Their quills are very soft whilst first emerging and can be easily damaged even by just picking them up. Having said that ours still dust bathe and just loose a few new feathers or bend them a bit. Should imagine if you are showing them that would be a disaster and perhaps that's why they are kept out of the bath.
 
Only problem I can see if it's in a confined space like a chicken house, it could cause respiritory problems as already mentioned.

New quills are full of blood and as long as they aren't broken, they should be fine.

They are sensitive and handling birds as they re-grow their feathers should be done with care but I can't see a chook hurting themselves while having a dust bath, they just wouldn't do it if it hurt too much.

Natures answer to Lice problems!
 
Tim said:
Only problem I can see if it's in a confined space like a chicken house, it could cause respiritory problems as already mentioned.

New quills are full of blood and as long as they aren't broken, they should be fine.

They are pretty tough but sensitive so I can't see a chook damaging them while having a dust bath.
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yeah, but respiratory problems can occur when they aren't moulting so that's a risk factor outside of the query. i can't think of any reason why chickens can't dust bath in a properly ventilated area whilst moulting. i can only think of reasons why they should! :)
 
Oh and something else that rings a bell somewhere in my brain was a farmer that told me they used to put wood ash below roosts when making chicken manure for gardeners... I don't know anything about this though... perhaps someone does?
 
Tim said:
Oh and something else that rings a bell somewhere in my brain was a farmer that told me they used to put wood ash below roosts when making chicken manure for gardeners... I don't know anything about this though... perhaps someone does?
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bet that makes a great mulch/fertilizer! ash is great for ground minerals for lots of plants.
 
@Bertie and The Chooks Yes, I agree, respiritory problems can occur at any time, usually at times of stress but they are also caused by ammonia from droppings with lack of ventillation and dust from bedding so it's a risk factor in the coop as there is unlikely to be sufficient ventillation in a small chicken house to put wood ash on the floor without causing dust in the air as birds fly down to the floor and scratch around.

As far as I know, commercial type chicken houses often have a mesh under roosts that droppings fall through onto a droppings board for collection underneath which is what I'm thinking of for the garden chicken manure that's made. I'd be interested to find out the way it's made though - there must be some chemical process involved to get the dried pellets that are pressed out for use on the garden...
 
Ash is very fine and covers the droppings as is much lighter consistency than droppings (they sinking)and dry them out-this propobly how they using it.
 
tygrysek75 said:
Ash is very fine and covers the droppings as is much lighter consistency than droppings (they sinking)and dry them out-this propobly how they using it.
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Ok thanks so I guess the moisture is quickly absorbed, the droppings dry out and then there is collection and some sort of processing to turn them into pellets for gardeners. :-)17
 
Ought to pass on a warning about "Some" Of the treated woods that may be burnt like old fence posts and panels. One of the Treatments that used to be used was arsenic and it will not disipate with burning. Several of the more modern wood treatments also contain Substances that can irritate the Lungs if breathed in while being burnt aswell.
I am even cautious about putting burnt "Treated" wood ash on the Vegetable garden as You can never be certain that there is no contamination. I still have plenty of Ash from the Tree and garden prunings but do take care over any of the treated wood you may burn.
 
Stapfam said:
Ought to pass on a warning about "Some" Of the treated woods that may be burnt like old fence posts and panels. One of the Treatments that used to be used was arsenic and it will not disipate with burning. Several of the more modern wood treatments also contain Substances that can irritate the Lungs if breathed in while being burnt aswell.
I am even cautious about putting burnt "Treated" wood ash on the Vegetable garden as You can never be certain that there is no contamination. I still have plenty of Ash from the Tree and garden prunings but do take care over any of the treated wood you may burn.
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I do not think that enyone even was thinking about using treated wood,but you made a valid point. :-)17
 
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