Added a sand box today and they are eating it

[quietlyscheming]

I have an old cat litter box that would be great as a dust bath so I'm totally stealing this idea. Do you put just play sand inside for that?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Quote:
I have been told that too. If they don't have access to sufficent, proper sized grit and go a little overboard on the sand it can be a problem.

You migh just put out a bowl of proper sized grit for them, that should provide what they are looking for and they might just loose interest in eating the sand. Just to be on the safe side.

 

[SteveBaz]

Quote:
I mix food grade DE (diatomaceous earth) and ash with the sand. The DE smothers mite and lice on the birds. It is a edible filtered sand that can help them digest foods and help kill parasites and worms inside the digestive tract and is a beneficial product for both external and internal. I mix 1/4 part to 1/3rd part Food Grade DE with 3/4 mix of regular sand. It is very funny to watch them sand bath. It gets them high I think?? It makes them weak in the knee joints and they act drunk after bathing in it.

 

[BlossomSilkies]

Steve: My container is like yours, looks about the same size. They haven't figured out dust bathing in it yet, but will.

Great idea to mix in DE. I'm going to do that today.

quietlyscheming: Yes, I got regular playsand from walmart.

 

[SteveBaz]

Kristy and others who have commented. The chickens I have had experience with have never had impacted crops or impacted from sand. The size of the sand vary from small to large. You can never control the size of the dirt or sand they pick up from the ground as the peck and scratch daily as you know. I say use regular sandbox sand but truthfully I have areas of the yard they like to bath in that is just plain old stupid yard dirt. Go figure. So I made the area larger in size with a shovel to about 3 feet long by 2 feet wide and instead of changing the composition of the area into a sand box I just added 10 pounds of Food Grade D.E. in it and they go to town. Now they have a few places that they like that and each morning bc it rains here often in Portland Oregon I have a yard hoe I keep against a wall and each morning as I come threw the gate I turn it up I go over to the other one they like and freshen it up with fresh DE and dirt from the flower bed area so when I open the coop door and the girls all run out I use the hoe to level and mix up the tub I have in the coop too. I change that one out by dumping it into one of the flower beds every couple of months and start over by putting 1/3 of DE and 2/3 sand and putting it back in the girls coop in the exact spot it was. They love the one in the coop but they still use the run ones as regular as the one in the coop. I have Ana my "EE" for an example that In the 6 months we have had her I have never seen her use the one in the coop but she loves the dirt filled one near the gate.

 

[Ole rooster]

My chickens don't eat it, the chicks are picking in it. But the chicks are outside most of the day now so that is going away.

 

[RHP63]

I gave my pullets a tray of play sand mixed with dried dirt and they ate a bit of it (they have grit in a bowl near their food) and walked all over it then ignored it. One of them will get the idea eventually...

 

[Alexandra317]

What age do you put the sand box in for the chicks?

 

[MsRiderUp]

I purchased a couple of 8+-month old Faverolles hens a couple of weeks ago. They had been kept in a barn with lots of other hens. I have a sand bottom coop, and they started eating the sand (inside and outside of the coop). I have grit available to them, which they ignore. I have layer pellet, which took them a few days to figure out. Now they're still eating the sand (which was sprinkled with DE) like it's food from Heaven! Last night it really rained and the chicken yard is wet. Obviously the sand coop gets some wetness inside when it rains like that and chickens are running in and out. I spread a bale of hay all around outside in the run, to absorb some of the wet, and discourage the hens from drinking from the little puddles (am treating them for a respiratory infection and put antibiotic in their drinking water inside the coop). I don't know of a thing I can do to discourage them from eating the sand. Guess that sooner or later they'll get their fill??? Any ideas?

 

[Sutremaine]

When I first got my chickens they spent a good few days scoffing the litter. Maybe they were inoculating themselves or something, I dunno. If they'll take treats or food in general from your hand, you could try presenting the grit that way. They might start eating it, or they might carry on ignoring it, but you'll know they know what it is and where it comes from. Do you have any other chickens in with those two? I've read a few posts about lower-ranking chickens filling up on sand instead of food, but I don't know the reasons behind it.

If their health and conditions have been otherwise fine over the couple of weeks you've had them (bar the respiratory ailment), it doesn't seem to be doing them any harm. Maybe you could give their crops a feel, to check it's not sitting around there, but short of taking the sand away you can't stop them. Try and avoid puddles, even after you finish medicating the water. Faeces + wet, airless litter =

I had no luck with a sand bath until I got rid of the sand and put bagged compost in the container instead. They love that.