Got sand? You should!

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
You paid how much for half a yard????

WOW !!!!!

What kind of sand did you purchase? I purchased 3 yards of "washed sand" and only paid $20.00. And I just called and placed an order for 2 more yards of sand for my coops and runs and I will be paying on $12.00.

lol...No..I was wrong it was $12...I asked my hubby as he was the one who actually got it! it was $24 for a yard!

WHEW!!!!!!!! Thank you for letting me know.

That sounds better.

 

[Talihofarms]

Quote:
We are on the Ill/Wis border.

Very cold right now.
The 8-10" of pine shavings creates heat through natural decomposition.
This is the standard in our area and many others since electric heat is not cost effective on large areas.
We put the shavings down in fall and add a little till winter.
Never have to scoop poo with a kitty shovel.
Remove the litter early spring as compost.
This is the most cost effective method for us.
Sand can and will not hold or generate heat.
At a little less than 1 ton per cubic yard it is a heavy material.
Much easier to remove the composted organic matter and use it as fertilizer.
Sand is not cost effective for us. I would be curious to see what the larger flock owners use.
Perhaps a poll would be in order.

just my ,02

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I am from South Louisiana and our temps are much, much warmer than where you are, so we wouldn't have to worry about "heat" so to speak. I can surely understand your location's temperature and the pine shavings creating heat. Makes sense to me and I agree with what you are currently using. Everyone won't be able to use sand because of many factors (location/temps/soil/cost, etc.)

I'm a flock owner with a large flock (150 chickens). At this moment, my chicken runs are a dirt floor. There are no "wooden or tile floors" in the chicken runs. I will be switching to sand because it seems to work well with my peacocks. To clean my chicken runs, I have to go in and rake the poop up, along with some of the dirt and I didn't like removing some of the dirt. I use my poop for fertilizer for my garden and I give tons of poop away to the local community gardens. My chickens were digging dirt bath holes in their run and digging pretty deep in the ground, so by me placing the sand in the run will save my dirt and the girls won't be able to dig holes in the ground. In a year or so, I think my girls would have dug themselves a grave. That is how deep they were digging.

 

[pawsplus]

Is there any kind of sand that isn't safe? is what's sold as kids play sand OK?

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
Sand is good for certain soil types helping drainage, but sand and clay makes concrete.

Concrete? I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Where I live the soil is a mix of clay and sand called gumbo. It is only slightly thicker than soup when it rains a lot. It does get pretty hard when dry, but not as hard as a mixture of aggregate, gypsum and calcium oxide (calcinated limestone).

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Chicken.Lytle :

Quote:
Sand is good for certain soil types helping drainage, but sand and clay makes concrete.

Concrete? ...Where I live the soil is a mix of clay and sand called gumbo. It is only slightly thicker than soup when it rains a lot. It does get pretty hard when dry, but not as hard as a mixture of aggregate, gypsum and calcium oxide (calcinated limestone).​

Ok lets just say in my yard it turns to stone.

 

[MaKettle]

I've said it before on many threads but my sand didn't exactly turn out the way I thought it would.

First, after reading my threads on the topic, we used play sand over several inches of pea gravel, which was a major mistake for my run. I loved the look of the sand--it was so bright & clean. Within a couple of days, the sand turned nasty brown & looked dirty. I also found that I was unable to find the poop (which wasn't a bad thing). I would go out with my kitty litter scooper and could rarely find anything to scoop out. Also, within a week or so, my girls had brought the rocks up through the sand so anything I could scoop would get caught up with a bunch of small pebbles.

In about 2 months, my sand was no longer fluffy & easily turned. As one of the other people said, it was like concrete. It was & has been very difficult to turn. We realize that we did not dig deep enough & make our layers thick enough. So, we are starting over again this spring & mucking everything out.

 

[chellejeff]

gmendoza post #14
uhhh. picking up chicken poop with a kitty litter scoop is not my idea of fun.I use shavings because:

1. they are good for composting your garden with poop on em
2. I use them for my redworms. they love carbon and nitrogen


alot of people swear by pine shavings because of their gardens.

Beats shoveling out chicken poop with a kitty litter spatula


My response post #26
gmendoza, scooping poop is not the highlight of my day, but it's only 5 minutes, and my wife and I share the chore. The scooped poop goes in a bucket, and the bucket of poop is then used as needed in the yard.


gmendoza post #43
I HAVE NEVER SAID THAT. DO NOT MAKE UP LIES! I USE PINE SHAVINGS,NOT SAND!!


My likely last response ever to gmendoza,
Wow, you have issues.

 

[jason_mazzy]

May I suggest crushed DE. not pulverized powder, but the kitty litter sized stuff. U can order it specifically in the right size through NAPA. it is an absorber, odor controler, and pesticide! and is perfectly fine for livestock (even if they eat some). It is IMO safer and better for the livestock than just simple sand.

 

[chellejeff]

I did not know there was such a thing as crushed DE. I have the powdered stuff and I think it lent to the dust problem I had with the wood shavings. I'll have to try some of the crushed stuff in the sand.