Deep Litter method or Sand??

[TalkALittle]

FYI, unless you plan on using the litter for compost, sand is substantially healthier than pine shavings.

Actually, the study you cited does not give any evidence to support this at all. It mentions that no effort was made to identify the species or pathogenic qualities of the bacteria present. The only conclusion it draws is that there is more bacteria present in shavings vs sand. Neither does it report on the health or mortality rate of the chicks in the study.

As for the sand vs shavings debate you often read in posts here, they are often regarding which is "better" from a moisture abatement and absorbency standpoint. The study would seem to bolster the claim that shavings are more absorbent (lower water activity/higher moisture content) than sand.

Additionally, I wonder what the results would be for a long term study from a run exposed to fresh air and sunlight and dirt below (I'm guessing they weren't putting those day old broiler chicks outside). The conditions of this study vary too much from my "real-life" conditions for me to be able to extrapolate much useful information from it.

 

[Hootenany]

Quote:

 

[bald Rooster]

Im sure everyones idea of how clean coops should be are different.

I have experimented a little with Poop cleaning.
I have a large walk in Coop about 10 feet by 18 and a second area for juveniles.There is a 30x50 wire covered sandy run connected.
Right now I have about 30 chickens,I plan on as many as 50 maybe more.
Anyway to the POOP. I covered my whole floor with rubber mats. My chickens roosting area is about 6'x6' it is over the mats.They can walk around this area during the day.I tried spreading several different things, wood chips,sand and straw on the floor to make it easier to clean.Forget it all its a waste of time and money.

I was scraping the poop up every morning, and read on here in a different post that I was wasting my time. So I tried a few different things.
I waited till evening to clean so it dried a little (Stuck to mats like clay)
I waited a week. this actually wasn't that bad to clean it took me about 30 minutes to scrape it all up. The problem was I had a dirty stinky poopy coop.

Since I work and leave before daylight, I feed and water at night with the rest of my critters,so in the morning I have as little to do as possible.

My morning chicken chore believe it or not is cleaning my coop and opening the door to there run.
I have a large trash can on wheels with lid next to my coop I walk up and open it, grab long handled flat shovel and step into coop I flip shovel over and scrape all the goodies into a pile, scoop it up and dump it in trash can,then open door to run. I have timed it,Takes 3 minutes a day to have a clean poop free coop. 30 chickens!
A lite dusting of sands helpful,my chickens drag enough in from the run.A little straw helps but I don't like it in my poop can.
I spread Poop in my Horse pasture. I know this might not be possible for everyone.
HAPPY Chickens

 

[Hootenany]

Im sure everyones idea of how clean coops should be are different. If I bought this off amazon, is it still covered under warranty?
 I have experimented a little with Poop cleaning.
I have a large walk in Coop about 10 feet by 18 and a second area for juveniles.There is a 30x50 wire covered sandy run connected.
Right now I have about 30 chickens,I plan on as many as 50 maybe more.
Anyway to the POOP. I covered my whole floor with rubber mats. My chickens roosting area is about 6'x6' it is over the mats.They can walk around this area during the day.I tried spreading several different things, wood chips,sand and straw on the floor to make it easier to clean.Forget it all its a waste of time and money.

 I was scraping the poop up every morning, and read on here in a different post that I was wasting my time. So I tried a few different things.
I waited till evening to clean so it dried a little (Stuck to mats like clay)
I waited a week. this actually wasn't that bad to clean it took me about 30 minutes to scrape it all up. The problem was I had a dirty stinky poopy coop.   
Since I work and leave before daylight, I feed and water at night with the rest of my critters,so in the morning I have as little to do as possible.

 My morning chicken chore believe it or not is cleaning my coop and opening the door to there run.
I have a large trash can on wheels with lid next to my coop I walk up and open it, grab long handled flat shovel and step into coop I flip shovel over and scrape all the goodies into a pile, scoop it up and dump it in trash can,then open door to run. I have timed it,Takes 3 minutes a day to have a clean poop free coop. 30 chickens!
A lite dusting of sands helpful,my chickens drag enough in from the run.A little straw helps but I don't like it in my poop can.
I spread Poop in my Horse pasture. I know this might not be possible for everyone.
HAPPY Chickens   

This seems interesting to me, I have toyed with the idea of using rubber mats, I guess since I've not seen it used until now I was hesitant

 

[bald Rooster]

this is not a newly built coop .30 chickens roost on those 2x2 and as you can see the floor is clean enough. Happy chicken

very little smell! Happy me

 

[Hootenany]

I have a coop probably after you subtract the framing and 2x4's for base boards a 4x8x6. 6 hens... Im using sand atm since last weekend, and so far its been amazing. Using a cat litter scooper and its been so much better than shavings. One thing I may see in the future i fear is dust build up from the sand drying out inside. But as of right now, It's aout 4 inches deep inside, and beneath the coop about 2-3 inches. They mill around in the run (more like a HUGE run, probably about 1/2 acre) with 5 ft. fence surrounding it, so they spend only nights in the coop... the issue I may have inside is having to meticulously cut out rubber to fit the simple design of ladders (probably complex for chickens lol) here is a pic of what I'm working with. The nest boxes (2 of them) are 1ft x 1 ft to the top left of the bigger ladder in the back you can see. I have it covered with plywood until they get old enough to lay. I hear thats what youre supposed to do but my first chickens so any help on that as well would be appreciated . The heat lamp I only turn on if it gets below 32 Degrees as they are only still 6 weeks old today. All I can go off of is information from other chicken owners, no real good "cited" source to actually compare too. Word of advice to anyone thinking about building their owncoop, go off of building plans, I winged this one for about 3 weeks, and If I had to do over again after $550 bucks of just lumber alone, I would have just bought a shed lol

 

[Family of 6]

Curious which method the OP used the how it has worked out? Also does he have more than 2 chickens by now (chicken math!)


We have an 8x8 SAND coop with a 12x12 run of grass/dirt (free range most of the day) for 16 birds. I rake the poop out of the coop every other day. It takes about 7 min and isn't too bad. I scoop into a 5 gallon bucket and put in my compost. Main problem is the dust. I mixed DE in and now I am wishing I had not done that. I have been wearing a shirt over my face as a mask. I spent less than $50 on the sand in September, but am still considering using another method in the future. I read the sand should be changed out every year. At that point I might try the deep litter method.

 

[bald Rooster]

Cheap Linoleum floor scrape poop out when its wet. No dust no cost after you put in the floor.