Creek Bed Sand for bedding

[sphillips]

Hi everyone! We're getting close to the point of needing to put some bedding in our coop/run. The coop is an old metal barn with a dirt floor. I'd like to use sand for bedding, but have read that it needs to be silica free. The lowest silica content sand here that I can find is what is called 'creek bed sand', and is a bit coarser than say, playground/sandbox sand. I was told it should be fairly low in silica, but they can't guarantee that it's silica free. Will this be okay to use as a bedding, as far as being safe for my chickens? Also, how deep should I plan the bedding to be? I figured 6", but don't know if that's too much/not enough.

 

[4 the Birds]

Should be fine. Even silica-free playground sand probably has small amounts of silica. Silica dust is bad for the respiratory in humans as well as poultry. Keep the dust down to a minimum and you are good to go. 6" would be plenty deep.

 

[chfite]

The concern would be the silica dust, not the silica. Since sand is made from silica, there would be no escaping silica. The time there would be appreciable dust would be when you dump or shovel the sand. The river sand probably has all the dust washed away.

Chris

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I use the washed play sand from Home Depot in the bottom of my shed coops and it works great. I keep the layer kind of thin and rake it daily, then scoop with a kitty litter scoop to get the solids out. These I spread around my trees and wherever I need some fertilizer (it is hot fertilizer though).

The reason I get the play sand is that they try to make it less dusty for kids to inhale I had heard somewhere but am not sure. I had tried the mason sand in bags as it was a dollar cheaper but it was WET and then made my coop just that much wetter inside- in the Pacific NW wet coops are a problem and so I buy the nice dry sand. I use about one bag a month per coop, $5 each.

 

[coffeekittie]

I use the washed play sand from Home Depot in the bottom of my shed coops and it works great. I keep the layer kind of thin and rake it daily, then scoop with a kitty litter scoop to get the solids out. These I spread around my trees and wherever I need some fertilizer (it is hot fertilizer though).

The reason I get the play sand is that they try to make it less dusty for kids to inhale I had heard somewhere but am not sure. I had tried the mason sand in bags as it was a dollar cheaper but it was WET and then made my coop just that much wetter inside- in the Pacific NW wet coops are a problem and so I buy the nice dry sand. I use about one bag a month per coop, $5 each.

Very helpful, CAS. I am building several coops and pens currently and plan on using sand. I too am in the PNW, and oooh, boy. Wet.

 

[jcwaterside]

Nice to hear from fellow PNW folks I am almost finished with my run and have used sand. I did use what they called leveling sand with a few inches of gravel below. Hope it will work. I have not raised chickens here before and was not aware of the wet coop issue, but sure makes sense. I wondered if I could put a couple large mossy logs in the run for them to peck and scratch for bugs. Insights appreciated and thanks!

 

[3arthm0ther]

I've heard the river stand is best because it's sharp/corse and dust free. The sharpness will keep the chickens feet clean but will grind the sand down into fine powder in 6mo to a year so wet it before changing it out. I'm in the PNW(WA) as well. I'm dreading the wet/dampness for when I build my coop.

 

[3arthm0ther]

I've heard the river stand is best because it's sharp/corse and dust free. The sharpness will keep the chickens feet clean but will grind the sand down into fine powder in 6mo to a year so wet it before changing it out. I'm in the PNW(WA) as well. I'm dreading the wet/dampness for when I build my coop.

 

[coffeekittie]

I've heard the river stand is best because it's sharp/corse and dust free. The sharpness will keep the chickens feet clean but will grind the sand down into fine powder in 6mo to a year so wet it before changing it out. I'm in the PNW(WA) as well. I'm dreading the wet/dampness for when I build my coop.

Cool, more PNWesterners. I think we all consider sand for it's draining capacity as well as the ease of keeping it clean. We get what - maybe, MAYBE one dry month out of a year? I'm putting gravel then sand down everywhere it feels like. Oh my aching muscles....

 

[3arthm0ther]

Cool, more PNWesterners.  I think we all consider sand for it's draining capacity as well as the ease of  keeping it clean.  We get what -  maybe, MAYBE one dry month out of a year?  I'm putting gravel then sand down everywhere it feels like.  Oh my aching muscles....

hear you!! I'm about 5/10 minutes from the sound so it's super wet here. My joints tell me days before it rains