I'm not sure if this is right as after reading this thread I went ahead and just bought it, but I bought playground sand - ie the type for kids to play in. The chickens are THRILLED. They've been bathing in it all day, and @timbowsr is right - no poop. I'm astonished. Yesterday there was poop, today it's vanished! I guess the sand sucks in the moisture and the whole thing gets scattered around.
Best bit of advice I've come across - could've done with it years ago!
Glad I could help GreenRunner. I haven't done much reading on what type of sand ... a quick search said that playground sand would be fine, but that it compacts a little more than most. I live in Louisiana and our parish ( county ) puts out piles of sand for sandbags. After using the sandbags for a bit I emptied them into my coop for the chicks. My sand also compacted at first but then after all the scratching it fluffed back out and stayed fluffy.
What kind if sand? Where to get it and dehydrated earth? Just don't want to make an expensive mistake and get the wrong thing
Sorry Wicked haven't heard of dehydrated earth ... do you perhaps mean Diatomaceous Earth, commonly referred to as DE?? If so, your local feed store or TSC should have it. I believe you can get a small bucket ( about 2 or 3 lbs. ) for about $12 or some feed stores offers a 40 lb bag for about $20. You can get sand in 40 or 80 lb bags from most home improvement centers, or if your coop/run is large you may want to see about getting a truck load from a landscaping company or land fill. Hope that helps.
BTW ... along with the sand one of the best things I ever did for my coop was an automatic waterer. Simply a 5 gallon bucket, some pvc pipe and some poultry nipples. What a difference that made!! I only water up about once a week!!
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