Saturday, August 4

Farm Photo: 8/4/07

Baby's First Dustbath
(Taken June 15th)



























Wondering what's with all the chick pics? Click here, then scroll down to the bottom to begin at the beginning of this whole Whitey Watch business.

A year of chicken photos and stories ago:
--7/19/06: Cats Aren't The Only Curious Critters
--7/20/06: A Tree Goes Down & Lindy Goes Missing
--7/21/06: And Sheeeeeeee's SAFE!
--7/28/06: Lindy & Whitey Offer Help To Donkey Doodle Dandy
--8/01/06: Chickens Love Company
--8/13/06: Everybody Gets Tomatoes This Time Of Year

© 2007 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares photos & stories of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

16 comments:

  1. What a thorough bathing chickie. You are so good to satisfy our insatiable chicken obsession - both in wine sauce and cute pictures!

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  2. I have not been by for a while and boy oh boy have I missed a lot!!! I LoVe these images!! See you again soon! hugs NG

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  3. They are so funny when they discover the dirt for the first time. They really love wood ash to dust themselves in too. I used to put it out for mine and it was chicken heaven!

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  4. Showed the last few days pics to my little girl. She said, "Look, it's a little Whitey!". How cute.

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  5. Uber-naive here, but what exactly does dust bathing do for a chickling and how does it learn to do it?

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  6. Hey, that is exactly the kind of bath I loves as a kid! Oh, my poor mom.

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  7. The picture of joy and satisfaction:)

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  8. Oh that is so cute!

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  9. Hi LindaSue,
    That chick was really too cute taking its little dust bath. I was so glad I happened to catch it.

    Hi NG,
    Always great to hear from you.

    Hi Rosie,
    I just read about giving wood ashes to chickens for bathing (see below). We have a ton of them in winter since the woodstove is our source of heat in The Shack. I'll have to give them some, though I can already see Joe rolling his eyes over this, LOL.

    Hi Anne,
    Your daughter was right! Just wait until you see how much this nearly grown chick now looks like Whitey. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure it's a rooster, which means it, um, doesn't get to stick around. : )

    Hi Daisy,
    It really was sweet. But then almost anything a fluffy baby chick does is adorable. : )

    HI W.V.,
    No question is ever a dumb question around here! You wouldn't believe how clueless I was about everything when I first moved to the country. And I still don't know all that much about a lot of things--including chickens.

    Just to make sure I had things right, I poked around online before answering your question. Here's what mypetchicken.com had to say about dustbaths:

    Chickens love to take dust baths! They dig a shallow hole, loosen up all the dirt, and proceed to get themselves absolutely as dirty as they possibly can. (Don't worry, they shake the dirt off later...) Dust baths are absolutely necessary: they prevent parasites such as mites and lice from finding a home in your chickens' feathers and legs.

    If your chickens aren't free-range or their run area doesn't have a dry patch of ground where they can dig a hole, you'll need to provide them with an artificial dust bath. Place a box on the floor of their coop and fill it with 6" of a dusting powder. Ingredients: 1 part fireplace ashes, 1 part road dust, 1 part sand and 1 part diatomaceous earth.


    (Click here to read more about what diatomaceous earth--best friend to the gardener and small farmer--is and how it works.

    As far as how they learn to take dust baths? I don't know for sure. I think it's instinctual, and so does Karen, who also blogs about life in the country. A while back she posted a wonderful "communal" dust bathing photo on Rurality, along with a great description of what chickens do while they're bathing. Click here for the post.

    Karen is also the one who has the Game Cam, and she shares photos on Rurality of what all the woodland critters are doing while the humans are asleep. Sometimes I'm envious, and sometimes I think I'm better off not knowing everything that's going on out there. But they do see some amazing creatures, including otters and a beautiful pair of bobcats. Click here to see a bunch of her recent Game Cam posts.

    Hi Sage Cat,
    LOL, that's too funny.

    Hi P's Gardener and Acornbud,
    Glad you liked the photos. Thanks to you (and everyone) for taking the time to write and let me know. : )

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  10. That is about the cutest thing I've seen a very long time! I've always thought chickens were an adorable bunch, but your little dust-bather just take the cake!

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  11. I'll say it again, FG, VIDEO OR BUST!

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  12. LOL. Doesn't look like he's being very efficient.

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  13. I'm new at blogging and I'm impressed with not only your site but also with the fact that you actually find the time in spite of working a farm. The dust bath is precious! I intend to try some of your recipies. I will definately visit again.

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December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!