Anyone use SAND in the run/coop

[along121]

I have 6 hens. I made 4 different sand pits with landscape stones to keep the sand in. My chickens love it! They burrow down in the sand every afternoon. They all have their favorite spots. I rake 7 dust into the pits every so often. The pits are not very big, but in the evening I sprinkly a little water on it and then rake it. It keeps the sand cool and rotated. When I let them roam out in my backyard they love to sit on the edge of my flower pots so I put rocks in the bottom of three old pots and then filled them with sand. They will sit on the edge like a perch, or bury themselves in the entire pot full of sand. Cute to watch. I found the play sand at walmart was a little bit better than the very fine sand at Home Depot.

 

[jtbass2756]

Do you have hardware cloth on the floor?.....I have it around the sides and buried a good 10" down...they have pavers around the outside....But have sand inside on the floor. I was warned that they could have foot problem from scratching on the hardware wire if I put it on the flooring. Live in NC and we do have a rather sandy soil so our drainage is great on our lot. I got some coarse sand from a contractor to put on the inside since someone also said the type that is used in kids sandpiles is fine enough to cause respiratory problems.

 

[daisiey]

I am SO happy to see a thread here about sand in the run. I went outside today to go in and do our morning filling of food, water, etc and almost wiped out there's SO MUCH MUD. And it's HOT, HUMID, MUDDY... and SMELLS!

I think i will convince my husband that we need to put sand down this weekend.

 

[jtbass2756]

Daisy, I have a sand run and love it! I try to keep them on a schedule of cleaning it but recently I have had so much rain, that I have not been able to do it. But leave it to my peeps, they keep it scratched around enough that is isn't bad and doesn't smell. We are 8" above normal for our rainfall and still no mud at all. When I stepped in today to get the feeder, it was dry as can be. It is time to go do a good raking but with the clouds, (and minor surgery on my foot), I will have to wait until at least tomorrow for some dry weather and then I'll just put a trashbag over my foot and start raking. I have a kitty litter shovel that I use in between. After I do a good cleaning, I have only filled up maybe a 5 gal bucket (that included some straw that they dig out of they boxes). I then add some more sand which they love. I got my coarse sand from a local contractor. It is the same sand they use for concrete. I was told the sandbox type sand was fine enough that it might cause respiratory problems. I have had none of those problems. The peeps love to "sandbathe"...

 

[deejeff442]

yes me too. took landscape rocks and made a box.they seem to like to take a bath in the sand

 

[Lynnette]

the sand that i bought is wet. can i put my girls n the coop with wet sand or should i wait till its dry

 

[along121]

Yes, what about summer when I walk on hot sand with my bare feet its well hot. How is it to a chicken? Would someone please ask their chicken for me? What about fleas? Please list all the PROS and CONS.

I have a fair size pen and if I put it in I do not want to take it out.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[along121]

Everything I have done to my little 10x10 coop I read in a book ( raising chickens). I learned that they need some stones because it helps with digestion, to make the sand pits separate so they can go to them, make them in different areas so they can get away from each other, and have more than one waterer and food dish so they all get to drink. I put down 3 to 4 inches of crushed granite over landscape cloth. I packed it very hard, but their scratching keep it loose. I bought a cute little chicken house from tractor supply and put it on top of the granite. I made a sand pit under the hutch near the ramp. Then I made a bigger one under the overhang where the nesting boxes are. Then I made one on the far corner. I had some nesting boxes from an antique store so my husband hung them on the side of the pen 18" off the ground. They immediately started digging a hole to sit under these boxes so I added more landscape stones and made a 4 th sand pit. In the afternoon I go see where they are resting and each have their own spot. A good thing to keep in mind is they will not be neat chickens and they won't leave the sand in the pit. The stones help, but I have to add more every three weeks. I just buy a bag of the coarse play sand at Walmart. It is not fine at all. Don't ever throw treats in the sand. They will dig to china to find every little crumb.

 

[Lynnette]

LOVE this idea!! Thx!! I'm gonna make one n put it on a 2×2 5' board like a rake. I put my girls in their coop today. It was funny they were lifting their legs high n looking at the sand n cocking their heads. If they could talk I think the would've said WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!!!!

 

[lookyhereboy]

I am SO happy to see a thread here about sand in the run. I went outside today to go in and do our morning filling of food, water, etc and almost wiped out there's SO MUCH MUD. And it's HOT, HUMID, MUDDY... and SMELLS!

I think i will convince my husband that we need to put sand down this weekend.

You will certainly appreciate the difference. My muddy run was nasty and dangerous from being so slippery. I put the sand on it and it made a world of difference with smell and walkability. We had an extremely wet late winter and spring so even though the sand drained well it continued to stay wet from very heavy rains. Because of the wetness there was a smell that persisted but nothing like the smell from the nasty mud. Now that things have dried out the sand is draining really well and there is no smell at all even after a heavy rain. We were just so soggy the ground below the sand took forever to dry out. I put it about 4 inches deep. I was going to add more sand to make it deeper but as things have worked out I will soon be moving the chickens to a new 40 acre backyard and hoping to give them some goats to socialize with. This site has been instrumental in helping me to learn how to take care of the chickens. Good luck with yours.