I buy the sand by the yard from a place in my town. They get it from the bank of a lake near by so it is clean (to the best of my knowledge). Maybe you can find a more natural source than play sand. The problem with play sand is that it's a mixture of several components that might have some toxicity. It is very hard to figure out which ones they mixed. It depends on the brand.Your post interested me. I too clean out my coop and run every day. I use straw and pine chips for the flooring bedding. I also use PDZ . I am hoping that keeping the area clean is enough to prevent lice and/or mites. A question I have though is what kind of sand do you use? I read so many conflicting opinions, i.e. "yes to play sand", "no to play sand". I use play sand in their dust bath and they love it.