Downhill coops and run bedding.

[Scratchychiken]

Hello everyone.

I'm thinking about putting sand in my run and coop. I have some questions.

The coop is quite fine with having sand flooring, however the only thing I'm worried about is the sand seeping through any small cracks in the panels. Anyone ever had this problem?

The run is my main problem. Besides having hard, clay ground it also goes down a small hill. The slope is most extreme in the front and least extreme in the end of the run. I've tried mulch (which got dry, solid, and heavily built up. The chickens ignored it completely after it got this way, it wasn't good dust-bathe material in the long haul either.)

I probably don't have much hope with leveling the ground without hard-core equipment.
I'll still try to help any way I can; Raking out the old bedding, putting planks between the wire thus raising the barrier to keep sand from flowing out, etc.

Advice?
Thanks in advance.

Also if there is already a thread on this subject feel free to point that out.

 

[Howard E]

Any chance you could provide pictures of all this? Kinda hard for me to visualize what you are describing.

 

[Scratchychiken]

Sure I could get right on that.

 

[Cacique500]

I had the seeping problem in my coop around the raised roost/poop tray. Mine is filled with 100% sweet pdz. I wound up having to put down clear silicone caulk at the seams where it was seeping, then covered it all back up with about 3" of the pdz. So far it's working great and the girls don't dig there (and haven't tried to eat the silicone!) In the pic below the poop tray is 3'x8' and the seeping was heavy in the front left and back left of the tray...also a little along the left wall. All fixed now...