Well, that is certainly one opinion. Here's my take on her main points:
- harbors E.coli - possibly, but I find it unlikely it does this more than other bedding methods, especially damp straw/pine shavings left over 6 months in deep litter? I clean my coop almost daily.
- allows coccidiosis to run rampant or in some cases eradicates it completely (both extremes are harmful) - this really doesn't make any sense at all from a logical standpoint. And again, how is some other material less likely to do this?
- dust can lead to respiratory/breathing problems - possibly true.
- can lead to impacted crops - in chicks? possibly. I don't think I would use it in a brooder. Then again chicks can eat pine shavings too. I do think the heat lamp on the sand could be a real issue.
- real possibility of 'breaded' feces being eaten by your flock - not even sure what this means. If feces are covered in sand are they somehow more likely to be eaten than feces covered in pine shavings? Doesn't make sense to me.
- hot in the summer - only in the sun, which around here is deadly anyway, the whole coop is shaded so not an issue. The hens can still dig down to the soil underneath anyhow.
- no insulating factors in the winter - not applicable to my climate, we get frost about 4x/yr
- not 'green', i.e. not compostable - baloney. I collect my droppings all the time and compost them, even though there is some sand on them. I use a kitty litter scoop to sift out the manure and compost. The soil at my house is very clay-like. Some sand in my compost (clinging to manure) is no issue whatsoever. The only issue is that I do need to have lots of other brown things to add to the compost, but dried leaves work perfectly fine.
I'm not really persuaded by these arguments, at least not for where I live. In addition many people near me live out of town essentially in the desert where the ground is basically all sand, and chickens seems fine (although obviously precautions have to be taken in the heat). YMMV.
