Old Wood Ashes... safe for dust bathing?

[mac76daddy]

Ceramic artists and those making pottery will tell you not to handle wood ash bare hand. They do NOT purify the potassium hydroxide. Even in concentration of 5-10%, it will saponify your skin!! I don't know where and why people think its okay! IT'S NOT!! If you don't believe me, make a solution of wood ash and stick your hand in it for about 10 minutes!! And if you have a chance get a litmus paper (tests the ph) you will get a reading of 12 or higher even with raw wood ash. ph of 0 to 1 is extremely acidic things like 10M concentration of hydrochloric acid, nitiric acid, and sulfuring acid. These are strong acid. on the other extreme are ph of 14. Things like sodium hydroxide aka, lye, hot lye... and potassium hydroxide. Exremely caustic.

If you don't think mixture of wood ash and water is totally safe, better than just placing your hand in the solution for 10 minutes, make the stuff and put it into your aluminum pot and tell me what happens in 10-30minutes.

For those who say it is safe, needs to take a basic chemistry class!! This just makes me fuming mad. Old wives tale!! Just because you read it somewhere that it is safe doesn't make it so.

BTW, my background includes "basic chemistry" in college and also includes p-chem, statistical thermodynamics (chemistry) and some quantum chemistry. Where in the heck did you get your information that it is safe!? Lets compare our sources!!

That’s when mixed with water … any ash is corrosive once mixed with water. Wood ash does have many benefits . Dust bath for chickens is perfectly fine and safe .. if it wasn’t people would be using it in a harmful manner and be all over the news . How many chickens have been melted by wood ash ? Like previously mentioned use in moderation. Ash has many benefits for your coop and your chickens . Be safe and don’t mix it with water !! Ash will knock down odor & keep unwanted critters off your birds !! Happy farming all .

 

[Dianemarie]

HOLD IT!!!

Wood ash contains potassium hydroxide. Yes it will kill lice, fleas bacteria but DON'T USE IT IN A COOP. It is very very caustic and not good for any living animals!!

Take a half a cup of wood ash, add a cup of water, mix it really well with spoon. Stick your hand it for a less than a minute. You'll find that your had is silky soft and smooth! That is because it is MELTING your skin away!! If it doesn't keep it in there for another minute or two.

Stuff is very very caustic and was one of the main ingredients in making soap from animal fat. The process is called saponification.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponification

DON'T PUT WOOD ASH INTO THE COOP OR NESTING BOX!!

 

[Madiwashere]

Ceramic artists and those making pottery will tell you not to handle wood ash bare hand. They do NOT purify the potassium hydroxide. Even in concentration of 5-10%, it will saponify your skin!! I don't know where and why people think its okay! IT'S NOT!! If you don't believe me, make a solution of wood ash and stick your hand in it for about 10 minutes!! And if you have a chance get a litmus paper (tests the ph) you will get a reading of 12 or higher even with raw wood ash. ph of 0 to 1 is extremely acidic things like 10M concentration of hydrochloric acid, nitiric acid, and sulfuring acid. These are strong acid. on the other extreme are ph of 14. Things like sodium hydroxide aka, lye, hot lye... and potassium hydroxide. Exremely caustic.

If you don't think mixture of wood ash and water is totally safe, better than just placing your hand in the solution for 10 minutes, make the stuff and put it into your aluminum pot and tell me what happens in 10-30minutes.

For those who say it is safe, needs to take a basic chemistry class!! This just makes me fuming mad. Old wives tale!! Just because you read it somewhere that it is safe doesn't make it so.

BTW, my background includes "basic chemistry" in college and also includes p-chem, statistical thermodynamics (chemistry) and some quantum chemistry. Where in the heck did you get your information that it is safe!? Lets compare our sources!!

I understand what you are saying but there is no way ash from a residential fire place could have anything close to resembling a 10M concentration of potassium hydroxide. At most the concentration could be .2M which would have to be from hard wood trees and straight out of the stove. Which I’m am pretty sure at that point there are other worries as to burning yourself. I am un sure how you got your information and how you came to this conclusion. Saponification happens when you have a much higher concentration. Since the discovery of fire humans have used ashes for many things and most of the time it has to be altered in some way. If there is a problem with ashes the main concern is what it came from. I doubt most people have the ability to acquire the materials for a dangerous concentration of potassium hydroxide or other harmful compounds. Just in make sure they aren’t ingesting a lot of the ashes. Like straight up mouthfuls daily and only eating that. At that point I would get your bird checkout in the noggin. Small amounts ingested based on age and size should be fine. I would not put a few day old chick in it unsupervised as they tend to not be the sharpest especially quail.

TLDR ingestion wiseink giving a single chicken a banana it is safe. Just wouldn’t let them eat one everyday.
Skin wise: it shouldn’t be a problem just wouldn’t get them wet in it.

I believe myself to be kind of knowledgeable in science as I have been selected to NASA and have lectures by astronauts and professors. I have also studied thermodynamics in science and engineering, biomedical engineering, biomedical sciences, chemistry, quantum mechanics and quantum physics, organic chemistry, and animal sciences before graduating highschool. Most if not all were college credit classes. But hey it’s the internet google is my best friend. I google an fact check myself constantly as everything is always changing. I am just confused on how and where you have gotten your numbers.

 

[Steepz]

My birds love wood ash from our outdoor boiler. When they shake its looks like dust flying everywhere. And I've been using it for a year with no problems of their skin falling of.

Does it ever get wet? And if so, it is still safe to use once it dries?

 

[silentmaple]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE TELLING YOU THAT THIS IS DANGEROUS!!!
It is a huge misconception that wood ash is safe!!! When mixed with water it can produce lye. Even if it only produces a small amount, consider how small chickens are and how thin their skin is.
Also, any dust is super dangerous to any birds. Instead of just lungs like we have, they have air sacs throughout their abdomen that just increase the mucous membranes that can get damaged by irritants. Both wood ash and DE should not be used for pest treatment on birds. There is a product called Elector PSP that is mixed with water and sprayed on birds. It is a byproduct of fermentation and is non-toxic!

 

[Floof]

This was a super interesting conversation. Just my own personal experience to add to the mix: I live in Oregon and close to the devastating fires we had a couple years ago (we were evacuated when the fire got within a mile of our home). My cat and my dog could come with us for the evacuation, my large flock of chickens and ducks could not. The best I could do was let them all out so they could flee if they needed to. Luckily the fires were contained and my home was spared and we were able to go home after about a week. The fires were close enough that the sky was black for days on end and when we got back, everything was covered in ash. The chickens did fine for the most part but my poor ducks struggled. They lost all their waterproofess because of the ash on their feathers mixing with the water they bathed in and they suffered really bad wet feather that only a few recovered from. I saw a lot of fatalities over the 3 months after the fires, mostly from illnesses related to constantly being wet and respiratory issues.

So if you have chickens, they will probably be fine with an ash bath every once in a while but if you have ducks in your flock I would avoid mixing it into your coop or run.

 

[User105877]

I know when my chickens find a place that I have burned recently. They go to town and get down and dirty it. When we used to have goats, they would lay down in it. It would be smoking and you could still see red embers and the goats would still lay in it, and you could occasionally get a whiff of burnt hair. Crazy. It's not like anybody was making them do it though.

 

[Dianemarie]

Ceramic artists and those making pottery will tell you not to handle wood ash bare hand. They do NOT purify the potassium hydroxide. Even in concentration of 5-10%, it will saponify your skin!! I don't know where and why people think its okay! IT'S NOT!! If you don't believe me, make a solution of wood ash and stick your hand in it for about 10 minutes!! And if you have a chance get a litmus paper (tests the ph) you will get a reading of 12 or higher even with raw wood ash. ph of 0 to 1 is extremely acidic things like 10M concentration of hydrochloric acid, nitiric acid, and sulfuring acid. These are strong acid. on the other extreme are ph of 14. Things like sodium hydroxide aka, lye, hot lye... and potassium hydroxide. Exremely caustic.

If you don't think mixture of wood ash and water is totally safe, better than just placing your hand in the solution for 10 minutes, make the stuff and put it into your aluminum pot and tell me what happens in 10-30minutes.

For those who say it is safe, needs to take a basic chemistry class!! This just makes me fuming mad. Old wives tale!! Just because you read it somewhere that it is safe doesn't make it so.

BTW, my background includes "basic chemistry" in college and also includes p-chem, statistical thermodynamics (chemistry) and some quantum chemistry. Where in the heck did you get your information that it is safe!? Lets compare our sources!!

 

[Dianemarie]

Ceramic artists and those making pottery will tell you not to handle wood ash bare hand. They do NOT purify the potassium hydroxide. Even in concentration of 5-10%, it will saponify your skin!! I don't know where and why people think its okay! IT'S NOT!! If you don't believe me, make a solution of wood ash and stick your hand in it for about 10 minutes!! And if you have a chance get a litmus paper (tests the ph) you will get a reading of 12 or higher even with raw wood ash. ph of 0 to 1 is extremely acidic things like 10M concentration of hydrochloric acid, nitiric acid, and sulfuring acid. These are strong acid. on the other extreme are ph of 14. Things like sodium hydroxide aka, lye, hot lye... and potassium hydroxide. Exremely caustic.

If you don't think mixture of wood ash and water is totally safe, better than just placing your hand in the solution for 10 minutes, make the stuff and put it into your aluminum pot and tell me what happens in 10-30minutes.

For those who say it is safe, needs to take a basic chemistry class!! This just makes me fuming mad. Old wives tale!! Just because you read it somewhere that it is safe doesn't make it so.

BTW, my background includes "basic chemistry" in college and also includes p-chem, statistical thermodynamics (chemistry) and some quantum chemistry. Where in the heck did you get your information that it is safe!? Lets compare our sources!!

Don’t let this comment scare anyone reading out of using wood ash in a dust bath. They left out that you have to boil the wood ash, with soft water for about an hour and skim off the lye and you will have to do this more than a few times to gather enough lye to saponify soap. My background knowledge is a professional soap maker for more than 15 yrs.

 

[Mouthpear]

For those who say it is safe, needs to take a basic chemistry class!! This just makes me fuming mad. Old wives tale!! Just because you read it somewhere that it is safe doesn't make it so.

Interesting since I am reading something now. Does that mean what you are writing should be taken with a grain of salt?

Oh and stop yelling.

basic chemistry class!!

information that it is safe!?

Lets compare our sources!!

There is no need for that.

Where is my information for saying it is safe. Experience. I have used wood ash for many things to include chickens dust bath. Never once have I had any side effects that were bad from using Wood ash. Just like almost EVERYTHING, in moderation it is fine, in EXCESS is where problems come about.

Like water. We need it and have to have it. But if you drink 5 liters of it you can die from it. it rains 40 days and nights then, we all die.

So how about we cut back some of that over excitement. And admit that people have used the stuff for a very long time with little to no adverse effects. I am sure in you studies there is something somewhere that will tell you that just because certain things are technically bad for you, on paper, when observing, doesn't necessarily translate to being the big bad wolf in reality.