At what age do baby chicks start to DUST BATH?

[abpatchy]

I've had chicks just two or three days old dust bathe in feed.

 

[ArraAchicksMama]

I’m pretty sure chicks will dust bathe as soon as they are stable on their feet and have the appropriate environment to do it. I would say within the first week.

What do you suggest I give my 6 day old for a dust bath?

 

[ArraAchicksMama]

I haven't looked out for a specific age but I am pretty sure my last batch were dustbathing in their bowl at about a week.
My guess is that if they have the right sort of bath they will do so from the first day or so.
Why? I would just make sure they have something they can bathe in and they will use it when they are ready.

What do you suggest I offer my 6 day old for a dust bath?

 

[TexasBlues]

What do you suggest I give my 6 day old for a dust bath?

Mine just go outside and find appropriate spots. If I was going to make a dust bathe in a run I would probably use a mixture of peat, sand, wood ash, diatomaceous earth and maybe sulfur.

 

[TexasBlues]

For a little chick, maybe just some peat/sand

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Mine just go outside and find appropriate spots. If I was going to make a dust bathe in a run I would probably use a mixture of peat, sand, wood ash, diatomaceous earth and maybe sulfur.

Tangent, but why sulfur?

 

[ArraAchicksMama]

Mine just go outside and find appropriate spots. If I was going to make a dust bathe in a run I would probably use a mixture of peat, sand, wood ash, diatomaceous earth and maybe sulfur.

6 day old. They are in a brooder full time right now.

 

[Debbie292d]

I've had chicks just two or three days old dust bathe in feed.

Same!

 

[TexasBlues]

Tangent, but why sulfur?

“Studies show that sulfur is very effective at treating mites and has been used for a long time by commercial animal farmers to control pests. It’s even used to control pests on plants like fruit trees. If you want to go this route you can do a couple of things.

One is by adding handful of sulfur to a simple dry dirt bath. Alternatively you can hang a bag of it in your coop where the birds brush up against it. If you have an open water source, keep it away from that because you don’t want the sulfur dust mixing with the drinking water.

Sulfur precautions: High doses can be toxic to humans so don't breathe it in. Too much sulfur dust can also be combustible. If you just use a handful when applying it, you don’t have to worry about these issues.

A side benefit to sulfur is that it continues to control mite populations even after treatment, and can also control mites on the birds that don’t have those hygienic instinctive to dust bath themselves.

Entomology Today found that "Sulfur dust has been used for decades to control mites on chickens. The sulfur is usually provided to chickens in a “dust bath,” [...] Murillo and Mullens strategically positioned small gauze bags of sulfur dust in the chickens’ cages where the chickens were likely to brush up against them, such as near a food dish. The chickens effectively dusted themselves with sulfur when they fed. [...] On average, sulfur reduced mite infestations to low levels within one week of treatment and eliminated mites as of three weeks post treatment." We have used small amounts of sulfur in our own poultry dust baths and it is a great addition.”

From: https://www.thefarmerscupboard.com/blogs/chickens-poultry/chicken-dust-bath#

 

[TexasBlues]

6 day old. They are in a brooder full time right now.

I gave my little ones supervised time to free range