Just like humans, chickens also need good hygiene. However, chickens do not use water to wash up, they take a sand bath. Provide a sand bath with a raised edge of about 20 centimetres. The size of the bath depends on the size of your chickens. Bantams only need about 55 square centimetres. Bigger breeds require a sand bath surface of up to 1 square metre. Fill this bath with fine, white sand and replace this regularly. Find a nice and dry location, because wet sand is far from ideal for the chickens to bathe in.
The size of the bath depends on the size of your chickens.
Besides cleaning the feathers, a sand bath is also very effective against parasites like lice, fleas and mites. The sand will kill the parasites. Moreover, it will also remove the excess grease in the feathers.
A chicken takes about half an hour to bathe in sand. She will start by digging a small hole and sit in it. She will spread her feathers and shake her body to get the sand in between the feathers. She will lie down, start rotating and shake off the sand afterwards. This way, your chicken will be as fit as a fiddle.
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