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Nice set up - I was wondering how it would be if I used sand inside the coop. Do you have to scoop daily to keep it smelling good? Does it help keep it dry in there? That was the reason I wanted to use DE & DLM rather than sand - so I could be lazier about the scooping and just turn over the shavings as needed and sprinkle a little stall drier as needed.
BTW - love the pics on your blog - especially love the teaparty chick! Too cute. My son wants me to get BOs next time b/c he's "tired of these chickens that don't like people" - referring to our White Leghorns and the little Ancona we just added. He was quite happy when I told him the mutt chicks we adopted were "docile and friendly" according to the woman who sold them to me.
Okay. First the sand. When I initially put the sand in, I also added some Sweet PDZ. I thought it would be necessary for the smell. I think that was a wasted expense (luckily I only spent $3.00 on it). The sand dries the poop rather quickly and therefore eliminating the odor. The longest I have gone without cleaning my coop is 3 days and there was absolutely no smell. Please believe me when I tell you it only takes me approximately 1 minute per day to clean it. It is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier than shavings. I just scoop it out and fling it into the woods. The kitty litter scoop sifts all the poop out and leaves the sand. No waste. One minute and done! The sand is very good for the feet of the chickens and keeps mites, and fleas away. At least it has for my birds. We are in August and I have not had to treat them in any way for mites/bugs. With sand, there is no need for DE or stall drier. The interior of the coop is so very sanitary and that in turn is so good for my special girls. The type of sand is important though. You should get construction sand. It's sharper and better for their feet. It's less habitable for mites and bugs as well. I promise you, that if you got rid of all your shavings and replaced it all with construction sand (you can buy bags of it cheap at Lowes or Home Depot), you will have made your job of maintaing your coop 110% more easy and pleasant. ❤ I promise❤!! I'm sure play sand would be good as well though. Construction sand is just "better". The sand in my coop is 1/2 inch deep. It took three 50lb. bags. No need for any more in there. It's perfect. When I do our run, I'll probably go 3 inches deep or so. That way it will be easy to rake. From what I've read here on BYC, people just rake their runs of sand and the poop literally just disappears. Lovely!! I have not had to haul out the sand and bring in new like you need to do with shavings. So all told, to have an immaculate poop free coop, it literally, and I mean VERY literally, takes me all of 7 minutes per week. Doesn't that sound just dreamy? It is wonderful.
Now on the Buff Orpingtons. I am on your son's side with that. As I stated in my blog, they are really friendly, loving, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet birds. You need to get a couple ASAP!!! They will quickly become your favorite. Since mine free range all day, I can't always find them when I first go outside. All I have to do is yell "Henny Penny's", and they will come fly running to me as quickly as possible. It's really funny! I just adore them. I'm so glad you visited my new blog. Did you know that you can sign up to follow it by email? Just type your email address in and whenever I update it, you'll get notification.
I hope you decide to follow us by email.
Oh!! One more benefit of sand! One of my girls recently had several days where she was pooping diarrhea. As soon as it hit the sand....dried up with no smell!! Yay sand!!
I hope this helps to convince you to make a complete switch and ditch the shavings all together.
~Kelly~
✿My Country Chronicles Blog✿
Okay - I'm convinced about the sand- and with your guarantee - how could I miss
I'll try 4 50# bags of the construction sand in the coop & manure box and see how far it gets me. But I think I'll still start with the playsand in the run b/c that's what I have an abundance of in the yard. The kids have a great sandbox that is now a box of weeds & sand b/c they don't play in it anymore (10yo, 9yo and 8 yo) they only noticed the sandbox again today b/c I was busy pulling out the weeds to get ready to take their sand.
Yes - I do want some BOs - once we start school again in Sept we plan to start another hatch - this time I want BOs and maybe EEs in the bator. I'm hoping I'll have a mix of white, olive, brown and blue eggs when I finally get to gather the eggs.
Also thanks for letting me know about email notification - I went back and signed up for that as well - look forward to reading your blog.
Nice set up - I was wondering how it would be if I used sand inside the coop. Do you have to scoop daily to keep it smelling good? Does it help keep it dry in there? That was the reason I wanted to use DE & DLM rather than sand - so I could be lazier about the scooping and just turn over the shavings as needed and sprinkle a little stall drier as needed.
BTW - love the pics on your blog - especially love the teaparty chick! Too cute. My son wants me to get BOs next time b/c he's "tired of these chickens that don't like people" - referring to our White Leghorns and the little Ancona we just added. He was quite happy when I told him the mutt chicks we adopted were "docile and friendly" according to the woman who sold them to me.
Okay. First the sand. When I initially put the sand in, I also added some Sweet PDZ. I thought it would be necessary for the smell. I think that was a wasted expense (luckily I only spent $3.00 on it). The sand dries the poop rather quickly and therefore eliminating the odor. The longest I have gone without cleaning my coop is 3 days and there was absolutely no smell. Please believe me when I tell you it only takes me approximately 1 minute per day to clean it. It is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier than shavings. I just scoop it out and fling it into the woods. The kitty litter scoop sifts all the poop out and leaves the sand. No waste. One minute and done! The sand is very good for the feet of the chickens and keeps mites, and fleas away. At least it has for my birds. We are in August and I have not had to treat them in any way for mites/bugs. With sand, there is no need for DE or stall drier. The interior of the coop is so very sanitary and that in turn is so good for my special girls. The type of sand is important though. You should get construction sand. It's sharper and better for their feet. It's less habitable for mites and bugs as well. I promise you, that if you got rid of all your shavings and replaced it all with construction sand (you can buy bags of it cheap at Lowes or Home Depot), you will have made your job of maintaing your coop 110% more easy and pleasant. ❤ I promise❤!! I'm sure play sand would be good as well though. Construction sand is just "better". The sand in my coop is 1/2 inch deep. It took three 50lb. bags. No need for any more in there. It's perfect. When I do our run, I'll probably go 3 inches deep or so. That way it will be easy to rake. From what I've read here on BYC, people just rake their runs of sand and the poop literally just disappears. Lovely!! I have not had to haul out the sand and bring in new like you need to do with shavings. So all told, to have an immaculate poop free coop, it literally, and I mean VERY literally, takes me all of 7 minutes per week. Doesn't that sound just dreamy? It is wonderful.
Now on the Buff Orpingtons. I am on your son's side with that. As I stated in my blog, they are really friendly, loving, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet birds. You need to get a couple ASAP!!! They will quickly become your favorite. Since mine free range all day, I can't always find them when I first go outside. All I have to do is yell "Henny Penny's", and they will come fly running to me as quickly as possible. It's really funny! I just adore them. I'm so glad you visited my new blog. Did you know that you can sign up to follow it by email? Just type your email address in and whenever I update it, you'll get notification.
Oh!! One more benefit of sand! One of my girls recently had several days where she was pooping diarrhea. As soon as it hit the sand....dried up with no smell!! Yay sand!!
I hope this helps to convince you to make a complete switch and ditch the shavings all together.
~Kelly~
✿My Country Chronicles Blog✿
Okay - I'm convinced about the sand- and with your guarantee - how could I miss
Yes - I do want some BOs - once we start school again in Sept we plan to start another hatch - this time I want BOs and maybe EEs in the bator. I'm hoping I'll have a mix of white, olive, brown and blue eggs when I finally get to gather the eggs.
Also thanks for letting me know about email notification - I went back and signed up for that as well - look forward to reading your blog.
