Elevated coop bedding...

[MichelleT]

This is our second elevated coop (chicken math!) and while I love the ease of cleaning, I get a LOT of used bedding that is slow to compost. The POW coop has sand as the bedding of the elevated coop and i thought “sand! hmmm...”

If you have an elevated coop, do you use sand on the floor?
If so, how do you like it compared to pine or aspen shavings? Does it keep the coop warm enough in the winter?

If you don’t use sand but have considered it, why did you decide against it?

 

[azygous]

Yes, I have two elevated coops and I now use sand in both. I was using wood shavings, and I hated that bedding. Since I've been using sand, I really love it. It's warmer in winter and cooler in summer. It's easier to clean. It even looks neater. And the chickens seem to enjoy it more, too.

 

[MichelleT]

Thank azygous! (and hello... again!!) Interesting, and promising, that the sand insulates better than wood chips... cooler in the summer makes sense, but warmer in the winter surprises me!

I like what you're saying... however my husband says that it will leak through the small cracks in the wooden floor (which I think is not a big deal, because the surface below the coop is sand anyway, but he says it is just a waste). Do you find that to be true? He wants to put a plastic layer down to avoid losing sand in the cracks but I'm thinking that the chickens will just scratch it all up. Unless it's deep enough, I guess.

My other option is leaves. I have a LOT of leaves from huge cottonwood and oak trees. I like the composting quality but I really like the thought of being able to scoop poop like a cat box...

Also, do you mix the sand with PDZ? (I see that's a popular option)

 

[azygous]

My coop floors are insulated with roofing tar paper with vinyl flooring laid down over that. No sand leaks out.

The reason it's warmer in winter is that I use heaters when the temp dives down into the teens and below to bring the temp up to just above freezing. Also, one of the coops has a big window that lets in sunlight that warms it, causing the sand to act as a heat sink. That mediates the temperature even more. The reverse occurs in summer. The sand actually keeps the temperature moderate with all the ventilation bringing in cooling air in summer.

I tried Sweet PDZ one time, and I hated how much it contributed to the dust in both coops and run. I've never had an odor problem since the run is covered and there's good drainage around it so it doesn't often get wet, and I keep the poop scooped.

By the way, I get two gallons of poop a day from coops and run with 22 chickens. It gets spread immediately over all the grassy areas surrounding my house. The grass absolutely has thrived on chicken manure, and the wild turkeys come daily to glean any undigested chicken food they can find in the poop. That, in turn, salts the soil with their mild form of Marek's that immunizes my flock against the virulent chicken form. We believe in the value of symbiosis.