Cleaning out the sand run?

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

Our run is coarse sand and small rocks. I’ve been trying to scoop it daily with a cat litter scoop but the rocks make it hard to filter out the poop (or even see all of it). Trying to figure out if there’s a danger in leaving the poop sitting there over time and when I should be concerned to change it. I’ve been sprinkling DE in there as well.

 

[azygous]

One time I shoveled all the sand out of my run, every last grain. It's a big run. I had a miserable dusty mixture of decomposed sandstone and construction sand. I wanted to get rid of the dusty stuff. Then I brought in fresh sand.

Recently, I wanted fresh sand again, so I was patient and scooped poop for several months, which scoops sand as well. I finally got the sand level down to just an inch. Then I brought in fresh sand. This worked splendidly. Any remaining feces worked their way to the soil level and ceased to be a problem.

I won't ever be removing all the sand again. Just too much heavy work for no real benefit.