Best coop floor for silkies? Should I use SAND?

[thepouts]

We finished building our new coop yesterday. I only have silkies and am wondering what the best coop flooring would be? My research is pointing towards sand because I want something that is low maintenance and clean and not smelly.

Our run gets quite muddy. I was thinking of laying pebbles in there (they free range all day so won't be on the pebbles to much) but it will be quite expensive. How would sand go in the run?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sand works great in the run and in the coop. I pour sand right in front of my coop to get rid of mud. I have to renew it yearly.

The sand in the coop works great. I buy the washed play sand in bags (dried) and scrape it with a plastic rake every other day then use a kitty litter scoop to get the poo out. It is dusty so I only put down a very thin layer of sand, since the more you put on the floor, the more sifting you have to do.

Pebbles will make it so that the only way to get rid of the poo is to hose it down in my opinion. With sand you can sift through it if your run is very small. If large and you won't be sifting then I wouldn't put them on pebbles because it might be hard on their feet...just a thought.

My silkies love a good dust bath in the dirt. You can make them a dust bath pan or let them take a bath in the sand.

 

[thepouts]

Thanks for that! How thinly do you put the sand on? I read some people put 4-6 inches.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thanks for that! How thinly do you put the sand on? I read some people put 4-6 inches.

I like to scrape with my small plastic rake ALL the sand off the wood floor of the shed over to a pile by the door. I stand in the doorway (so I am not breathing as much dust LOL) and take my kitty litter scoop and sift through all of it. If I did it right, I have just a small pile of sand left. Then I take about a double handful or two of sand from the bag I keep in there and throw it back around the shed floor. Since I can't totally get all the sand when I scraped, there is now enough sand on the floor to make the cleanup easy the next time. Works for me!

You should wear a mask when sifting sand, as breathing silica dust is harmful. I buy the washed and dried play sand in the hopes that it will have less silica dust.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh I forgot to mention there is a "Got sand? You should!" thread that was very long...you might enjoy it - just search for it.

 

[shannybell]

I have sand in my main coop and I LOVE it! It's like a huge litter box that I can get it really clean every day...so no waiting on the poop to compost like with other methods. Eventually, I plan on putting sand in our older coop when we remodel it too!
Oh, I took one of our flat picks that we used for picking horse stalls and I zip-tied some small hardware cloth on the bottom of it to make a large litter scooper. Works like a charm on that chicken poop!