Where do you put your old sand?

[Rubyfox]

Thanks, do I have to remove all my sand or just add to?

 

[aart]

Thanks, do I have to remove all my sand or just add to?

You may or may not need to remove the existing sand.
You'll have to assess the situation and surrounding area to decide if it needs to be removed or not.

First I would look at the drainage in the area.
Is it low ground?
Does water puddle there?
Are there way to divert any runoff from roofs and surrounding areas from going into the run area?
I'd fix those before adding more material over the sand.

Also look at if the added materials will stay in run area and how deep it might get.
Chickens can propel things with their feet pretty well and far.
Some folks add solid 'walls' to the bottom of the mesh run walls to contain the bedding materials.

 

[Rubyfox]

The thing is its in a converted greenhouse and some panels have been removed and chicken wire put there and on the roof as it gets too hot in winter so it is getting wet all the time

 

[Sutremaine]

Can you post some photos? It sounds like an unusual setup.

Also, which part of the world do you live in?

 

[aart]

The thing is its in a converted greenhouse and some panels have been removed and chicken wire put there and on the roof as it gets too hot in winter so it is getting wet all the time

Getting wet isn't a problem....as long as large long lasting puddles aren't forming. Deep Litter can handle quite a lot of water.

Can you post some photos? It sounds like an unusual setup.

Also, which part of the world do you live in?

Agrees would be good to see it and have more info.

 

[napahunter]

I get mine at the feed store

 

[TalkALittle]

I installed two 1x6" boards around the bottom of my welded wire run to hold in all the deep litter. I could have gone higher but it would have completely obscured my view of the birds in the run. Since I find watching "chicken TV" a great source of pleasure I opted not to. Consequently, I find myself spending a fair amount of time raking up litter that my birds fling out when they scratch. This spring I'm finally going to install a hardware cloth apron around the bottom edge of the coop that will extend up the sides of the run about 2'. That should prevent the majority of what they fling from flying out.

I imagine plain old chicken wire would work pretty well to keep bedding in. (It's just about all I'd use it for.) If I wasn't already planning to use hardware cloth for the apron, I'd probably go with chicken wire for retention of bedding materials just because it's inexpensive.

 

[Rubyfox]

Will grab another pic now but this was taken a few weeks ago

 

[Rubyfox]

I am from Lancashire in the uk, this pic was taken last year when I set it up in summer and the coop is just to the left so this is just a run for them when I am at work. I have a car tyre and a couple of other things in there now too.

 

[TalkALittle]

Ruby, how deep is your sand? Is there concrete under it or dirt?