Got sand? You should!

I acquired my hens in the summer of 2010. Based on the information I read here, and the fact that I have a wood shop, I put wood shavings on the floor of my hen house. The hen house is 10' by7' inside, and I have 11 birds. The wood shavings (4" deep) with occasional DE worked well for a while. After a few months, with daily cleanings, it began to get dusty in the house and the wood shavings were not particularly "kitty litter scooper" friendly. I was throwing out a lot of wood shavings with the poop. When I couldn't take the dust level in the house any more I shoveled it all out and was going to start over. After shoveling it out I decided this would be a good time to try sand instead of wood shavings. I'm not sure how to best convey this message but I'll give it a try, SWITCH TO SAND. There is no comparison. The sand is much easier to maintain. Odor is down. Dust is down. Poop, clumps and scoops easier. When I step out of my hen house I no longer have poop and wood shavings caked to my shoes. I'm one of those guys that needs to be hit over the head with a new idea before I'll change what I've been doing. If you think you might be like that also, then consider this a smack to the back of your head, SWITCH TO SAND. I telling you, there's no comparison. It takes half as much time as it used to, to clean out the house. It takes 30 seconds to rake the floor with a garden rake to reveal the clumps that need to be scooped. I have a board under the main perch which catches most of the poop. I use the kitty litter scoop to dust the board with sand so poops don't stick to it. It takes less than 5 minutes a day to keep the hen house very clean. I don't know if the hens are happier, but I definitely am.

This is a really interesting idea. It sounds like it will work well with my mud control strategy too. (Thanks patandchickens)!

I tested out sand in the brooder. It is great! It is better to have a nipple waterer than a water bowl. The rabbit waterer stayed clean while the bottle/dish chick waterer drained onto the sand when the mother hen started digging in the brooder and buried the water bowl.

I switched to river sand several months ago and love love love it.

Oh good idea that might solve a few problems with mine

I switched to sand last spring and I absolutely LOVE it!!! Will never go back to shaving again! Yes, if you haven't tried sand you should. Sand makes cleaning a breeze with a kitty litter scoop just as you would a litter box. The sand helps dry the poo and it really cuts down on the smell big time! We had a huge shed built that we divided and made one end the new coop. I used heavy duty plastic that you buy at Lowe's or Home Depot and used two layers on the floor. I then left about 2-3 inches going up the sides of the walls and stapled it all the way around. We then went to the local landscape yard and got a truck load of builders sand as this is all they had. Shoveled it in and now we need to add sand to the run this year. The hens seem to like it as well. They actually spend a great deal of time in there and in summer I think the sand is cool to them. My sister infact just switched to sand. She was fed up with the shavings making a mess everywhere, it was harder to clean, and you are always having to buy more. Not with sand. Try it you'll love it!

*If it does get a little dusty in summer just use a spray bottle and mist it down and you are all set.

Quick ?
Can you use sand for chicks???

OK OK Ill go get some today, just kidding been looking for people to hit me over the head to put sand in my coop and run, Thanks , now where might I get some and exactly what do I get and about how much does it cost ....thanks

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I got mine at a local landscape yard and it cost about $20 for half a yard which is one large front loader scoop full. My sister has a really small coop and went to one of the local big box stores and bought bagged sand.

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I think I read they don't advise it because they may eat it. Mine would even try to eat the shavings but of course the shavings were too small for them to eat.

I use sand in my new peacock aviary and will be using it in my chicken coops and runs. It is the best!!!!