Switch to sand?

[SWoRN]

We have had our coop up and running for about 2-3 months. We live on the eastern coast of Florida where it's hot, humid, and rainy. My coop is in the shade and we allow our hens to free range during the day. We currently just have whatever is left from them digging up the grass around the coop and run.

I side of our coop, we use pine shavings. We leave the doors open during the day so it is ventilated inside.

I completely clean out the shavings once a week and replace with fresh stuff.

The inside of the run is pretty much whatever is left over from what the girls have dug up as well. We have their food inside of this to keep it out of the rain.


My question is, would it be a good idea to place sand inside of the coop to keep it fresh? What about outside, around the coop? I'm battling flies right now outside and frequently move the dirt around with the rake to try to dry up the chicken poop. What other things should I do for the outside to keep it cleaner and fresh?

 

[EOCHICK]

We've recently placed sand in our run and bottom of the girl's coop. It has been great.Easy cleaning and all. I too use shavings for the brooder box. I have read mixed reviews about sand recently. Due to our humid climate it can hold a lot of bacteria from moisture and get pretty hot if not in the shade, which is common sense. I recently started using my Essential Oils to spray the sand to hopefully help reduce viral and bacterial growth. I'd be interested to read more thoughts about sand and long term health of chickens. All this negative reading about sand in coops is making me nervous as a first time chicken owner. Also, I've read if it's too fine it can cause a lot of respiratory issues.

 

[SWoRN]

We've recently placed sand in our run and bottom of the girl's coop. It has been great.Easy cleaning and all. I too use shavings for the brooder box. I have read mixed reviews about sand recently. Due to our humid climate it can hold a lot of bacteria from moisture and get pretty hot if not in the shade, which is common sense. I recently started using my Essential Oils to spray the sand to hopefully help reduce viral and bacterial growth. I'd be interested to read more thoughts about sand and long term health of chickens. All this negative reading about sand in coops is making me nervous as a first time chicken owner. Also, I've read if it's too fine it can cause a lot of respiratory issues.

I would love to hear other input as well. Where are you located in the country? The regimen we do now is pine shavings in the coop and nesting boxes. My husband just spread PDZ all around the coop and inside. It's a constant struggle with flies here in florida.