Anyone use SAND in the run/coop

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
Love the pan and rake! Thanks for the link!

 

[schellie69]

We tilled up our chicken pen and then added sand to it, I love it we are going to get a couple of more tons of sand in the next few weeks I love the sand the dirt here is mostly clay and it does not drain worth anything so the sand helps it keeps the smell down and it also no standing water now. we used the dirt we tilled in my raised garden bed I have plants popping up all over the place. Its great I love the sand it makes cleaning easier, I am not sure about using the sand in the coop yet been using straw I might go to sand in the coop when we get it built not sure. but I do love the sand in the pen don't have to buy gravel anymore and the chickens love it also. So if you have the chance go with sand makes cleaning much easier and I am hoping that this summer it will help with smell.

 

[JimWWhite]

I've been using sand in my 22x18' run for almost a year now and I'm glad I made the move. No mud or problems with smell. I layed down about 2" of what they call Crush 'n Run here which is just sand and small gravel they use on dirt roads. Then I layed in 3" of creek sand on top of it. We go out several times a week and use a hoe to turn it over and turn in the poop to rot in. I want to take the top inch or so of it now and put it on my garden where I have a lot of clay and then replace it with fresh sand. It will probably be a weekend chore this week.

 

[kichohana]

I just recently filled my run in with sand based upon other users advice/experience. Lowe's sells a 1000 lb bag of sand for $33.00, and I had to rent their truck for another $20.00 to get it home - well worth it. Once home, it was easily shoveled by wheelbarrow into my gal's run area which is about 7' x 6'. The bag-o-sand filled the run up 6". It took a day or two for the sand to dry out, and i mixed some DE in with it when I added it to the run. So far I see a huge improvement in cleanliness of the chickens - no mud or poop on their feet. I got a giant kitty-litter scoop at the local dollar store (6" across) and it is fantastic for cleaning the run. We have had some good rain here since and I am very pleased with how the sand drains fast and dries. No fuss no muss. Highly recommend it!

 

[chickerdoodle]

How big is a 1,000 lb. bag o' sand?? It's really in a bag? We got Mason Sand as it's as safe for them as playground sand because Mason Sand here is dredged right from the river and not man-made. What kind of sand is in the bag?

 

[dsc6]

Our pen which is located under the henhouse used to be a kids sandbox/room. Hubby laid down an old swimming pool cover on the ground before adding something like 10 inches of new pristine sand. Thirteen years later, that sand is almost as good and clean as new, and nothing grew up through it. I pulled out the pool cover, because I want the sand to be next to the ground. The pen is well-covered, so very little rain,snow, ect. got into it. The pullets love bathing in it!!

 

[gvntofly05]

Just finished shoveling the layer of poop out of the run today! Now I just need to get the 2x6's around the bottom and get the sand ordered! I need 2 tons for the run but I'm debating on a 3rd ton and doing sand in the coop too! I am tired of buying and replacing wood shavings all the time!

 

[ChickFarmer]

Growing up we had an excellent chicken run. It was sloped, all sand, (and rocks, everything was) and it had dwarf fruit trees around three sides, along one side there was a fenced off asparagus bed that we let them into once the asparagus was tall. We never had to clean the outside run, the rain took care of that. It was never muddy and didn't have a smell. When I build my new run I'm going with sand. I'll have to buy it this time.

Feels strange to buy sand, kinda like buying rocks.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

A few people said that they were worried about fleas. I didn't even think about that

Could that be a problem? would sand fleas attack chickens? Do they even live in the US and Canada?

 

[sablevulpe]

Quote:
I LOVE the bit about the girls in bikinis making sandcastles... I'm sure it was less fun to cleanup, but a GREAT visual image.