Got sand? You should!

[ChickenCanoe]

where would i buy river sand?

Building supply places and nurseries. Most have it by the ton.

 

[kuntrygirl]

sand for nesting box too?

 

My hens HATED the sand in the nesting boxes. :/

 

[cassyopia]

I think this summer I will be adding a layer of sand to the run.I already built it up using large gravel 1 inch minus for drainage this has helped a ton for the run. inside the coop I use wood pellets as they work just as well as sand for poo removal but they absorb water moisture and also compost well for my garden. Living where it rains all but 30 days a year wet sand doesn't do well inside a chicken house.

 

[WinterLadyAK]

sand for nesting box too?

no don't use sand in the nesting box. hens love to rearrange the straw or hay or bedding that you put in there, i'd put something they can make a little nest out of. or they make nesting pads, never tried those but those would work too.

 

[jruhle]

Wow! I live on the beach and can get all the sand I want FREE!!! I love BYC!! I have been fighting the muck for years and never thought of using sand instead, jeez guess I needed to be hit over the head. I'm going home to bag up some sand! Genius!

 

[taylynnp]

I must say thank you to all those that shared information and their experiences in this thread. I read every single post over the course of a couple of days.

Think we're going to try it!

 

[Waleschix]

Does the sand work in an outside run though?

 

[kuntrygirl]

We ordered more sand. 16 tons of sand was delivered last week and we are almost done putting it where we wanted. I took pics to show everyone where the sand is. We placed sand in the areas that get muddy the fastest and looks like the worst. We also put sand in the chicken stalls. The last pic shows a little bit of an aerial view of the larger area where the sand is. There is another pic of the entrance that I need to take a post to give you another view of the sand. I can breath a sigh of relief now that I have more sand. This is a life saver. I would get so upset when it would rain because the chicken yard was a mess. Now, I'm happy happy happy. e

Sand was spread under and around coops and in a large area of the chicken yard. It looks like the beach.

 

[Bonnienonnie]

We switched our coop to sand a few months ago, and it's great, but the girls have SHREDDED the landscape cloth (the sand was 2-2.5 inches deep).
Now the sand is mixed with the once-buried dirt

Our question is: what we put under the sand this time to prevent the girls from going down and getting to the dirt again?
We are considering plywood - if that is good, should we paint it? Or what else would be an effective barrier?

Thanks so much!

 

[WinterLadyAK]

We switched our coop to sand a few months ago, and it's great, but the girls have SHREDDED the landscape cloth (the sand was 2-2.5 inches deep).
Now the sand is mixed with the once-buried dirt

Our question is: what we put under the sand this time to prevent the girls from going down and getting to the dirt again?
We are considering plywood - if that is good, should we paint it? Or what else would be an effective barrier?

Thanks so much!

I would say more sand would be best if it's possible for you. If you go 4-6 inches in the run I don't think you'll have that problem. Also just really pack the dirt down before you put the sand on it and then the weight of that many inches of sand should keep it really compressed? I have about 5.5" of sand in my run and we rake it occasionally and have no problems stirring everything up.