Depth of sand in the coop.

[JoePa]

I have about 3 inches of coarse sand in my coop - the sand the the stuff that you would use if your making concrete - it has built in grit that the chickens eat - so far it is working out great - as I memtioned in a earlier post - I took a dusk pan and put a lot of hoes in it and every so often I sift the sand and remove the poop - my run is also sand and I do the same thing - only use a large shovel - sand is the way to go - no toubt about it - like the song goes - "down by the seaside sifting sand" - if your old enough to remember -

 

[Chucken]

Thank you all for your help. Dbounds10, I am making this coop for my daughter, and after she saw a picture of your coop, she decided she wanted sand rather than shavings. She thought it looked very neat and tidy. I think shejust wants to draw designs in the sand.

Joe Pa, yes, I am WAY old enough to remember MaryAnne.

 

[rolffamily]

We have 6 inches of fine sand. We tried coarse riverbed sand, but it busted up the chicken poop into crumbles. I would rather scoop out big turds.

I have a bucket and kitty litter scoop by the front door and grab it on my way in. Even if I just scoop up a half dozen blops I'm happy. And, although you'll think I'm crazy for saying this- the cleaner I keep the coop, the cleaner the chickens do too. I can go days (depending on the weather) where I will have no chicken poop in the coop all day - and the food and water is in there. They don't seem to like it dirty either.

 

[dbounds10]

Quote:
LOL - Yes I use the rake to make zen lines when I clean it out. Its like a chicken zen garden!

 

[dbounds10]

Also - I have not yet learned how to or started a compost so I would have shavings out the wazooooo to have to burn or otherwise dispose of so the sand is great. I keep a bucket next to the coop that I put the poop in and give it to my neighbor for her compost pile until I get around to starting one for myself.

 

[chickfan]

Two of our coops were originally storage pods, I think they were called. 5X8X7 ft. tall. We got them for almost nothing at a place that was getting rid of them. DH painted the floors to protect them, and I sprinkled sand in, but not very deep at all. Maybe an inch or so. I put up roosts and poop boards, and put sand on the poop boards too. They have windows, covered with hardware cloth (bought cheap through Amazon...at least cheap compared to Lowes), and the windows can be open or covered, depending on the weather. This has worked perfectly for me. I tried all sorts of things to use for scoops, and am using the cat litter ones. I kept looking for something to scrape the poop into a pile, and tried many things. Finally found a little flimsy thing at walmart called a brush rake, I think. Handle is wood...rake part is plastic. It absolutely works like a charm. I can use it with the handle, to gather up all the poop (very easy since it is mostly on top of the sand, and always dry) into a pile and then put it in a bucket. My friend gets all the poop for her compost and loves it! LOL I can take the rake part off the handle and use it as a hand rake to drag all the poop over into a pile, and pick it up. Very very very easy, and I'll be darned if it isn't almost fun! I keep food grade DE in an empty spice bottle, and sprinkle it over the sand on the board, and on the floor. I have never had bugs...no lice...no nothing. And no odor to speak of either. I did see some ants in one corner of one of the coops the other day...sprinkled DE on them and they were gone the next day.
I spent sooooooo many hours, reading all the posts on this board, writing down ideas, and treasuring every bit of advice I got. When I had my thoughts together, we picked up a trailer full of sand...I don't remember if they called it manufacturers sand or construction sand...from a cement company nearby. Then we just threw it in the coops and personally, I don't think anything would work any better. We've used shavings in the brooders, but it didn't seem right to me for us to use that in the coops.
So in answer to the original question...our sand is not deep at all and works perfectly. Even with it not being deep, it still dries the poop out perfectly, and makes it so easy to clean up, leaving most of the sand behind.
And for what it is worth, we have another coop area, with the sides and top being aluminum...like people have on roofs. We set up roosts in there too, and some nest boxes. I was going to put sand on the floor, but DH kept saying to wait and let him paint the walls first (yeah...wait how long?) so I just let it go. There is sand in the poop trays under the roosts, and some gets shoved on to the floor, but mostly I am able to sweep most of the poop up from the cement, even without sand, so that is working too.
The chickens don't spend time in the coops during the day...they free range and take their dirt baths outside. I have never seen them take a bath in the sand.
Lou Nell in Texas

 

[gale65]

This sand idea is very interesting to me. Does anyone know how many bags (I'm guessing 50 lb bags?) of sand for a 4 x 6 coop to make it the correct depth? And do you use play sand? I mentioned this to my husband thinking he would roll his eyes or something and he said that dairies use sand as cattle bedding.

I would love to not have to clean out wood shavings every week.

 

[CarolynF]

Dry sand weighs about 100 lbs. per cubic foot. A 50 lb bag of sand is therefore 1/2 cubic foot. There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard.

Since 3 inches is .25 of a foot, then 4' x 6' x .25 = 6 cubic feet will cover your coop 3" deep. So it will take 12 bags of sand for that. Which will probably cost you about $35 or more. You might want to check out a landscape supply, the same place you get top soil or mulch. We just got 3/4 yard in our pick-up truck for $20. The extra will go into the garden and the neighbor's sand box for his little girl. And I'm keeping a bucket full for backup.

Hope this helps.
Carolyn

 

[colonel sander]

I just picked up a yard of sand for 25 bucks. I found it by my shop for 7 dollars a ton (just under a yard) but of coarse they had a 40 dollar minimum

The yard filled my 5x12 run to about 4 1/2 inchs and still had a wheelbarrow full left. I am really thinking of tossing it in the coop itself as shavings are getting to me in the brooder. They are going in the coop this week so need to get it figured out. I also got river sand and it has all sorts of smaller sized rocks in it.

 

[CarolynF]

Quote:
Are you thinking the smaller rocks in the river sand will work as grit? I believe river rock/sand is usually smooth compared to the sharp edges needed for grit.