What a great way of keeping not just a clean coop, but clean chickens as well! That is so smart! I am definitely going to do this in the next coop clean out.
A nice quick and to the point article on the benefits of sand. The only thing I would do differently would be place a landscape cloth barrier between the sand and the soil to reduce the two mixing and conserve the sand. Overall, good article with good information. Anyone with issues like a wet, muddy run should consider this option.
I would never use anything other than sand in the chicken coop. The article was correct on all information. I switched to it one year after dealing with other conventional materials, and swear by it. No more stinky, dirty coop floor. Yes, hens and eggs stay clean too!
Just finished putting sand in my coop and run. Totally love it and , most importantly, so do the chicks. Haven't tried it yet in the nesting boxes but my chicks are only 8 weeks old so will think on that a little. My one concern is how will sand stand up to our freezing winter temps. here in Wisconsin. Great article. Thanks.
I was reading up on sand, as I have dirt in the run now (used to have grass ) and drainage is an issue. This article is very convincing. I will use sand in the run for now and consider it for the coop later. Thank you for an informative and well written article.
I also use sand and felt this article was correct in how well it works in the coop. I don’t have experience with it in the run yet. We still have grass there.
I love my sandy coop, run and nesting boxes . The key is to clean daily and add ash or de regularly.As they do in daycares it can be sprayed with bleach and raked .
We have some hard lumps by the water , we just put them in the run for the hens to break up . It gets no hotter then dirt and drains like a dream . (Think of a beach )
I tried straw , yuk a slippery mess of wet poop, deep litter I don’t enjoy walking on a big pile of compost and leaving the poop on the floor , and shavings are dusty and it’s hard to scoop poop up .
I’m not a beach girl !! But I love my beachy coop , run and the nesting boxes are great!!
No more straw on the floor , broken eggs or even dirty eggs.
