Got sand? You should!

[Gypsi]

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Very nice chicken house... Lucy is cute too! My ladies supervised when we built their house, but all hands held tools, so no pic.

 

[Lisa202]

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You can only use FOOD GRADE DE. If it doesn't say "food grade" then don't use it. The chickens will eat sand (it's a good source of grit) and having the non food grade DE mixed in with it is dangerous. The food grade is more expensive. It's also good for mites, fleas, etc. There is a very good thread here that has a lot of info and links about DE.

I use sand in my run (construction, not play) and I wouldn't use anything else.

 

[Chick named Lola]

I use sand in the run and shavings in my raised coop. I buy my sand @ Home Depot, $3.75 for a small bag. I get the paver sand as it has some little pebbles in it and just works better for me. I also mix powdered DE in occasionally to keep it dry and clean. My only problem is the drop down ramp from my coop...the kick shavings on it while it is closed and every morning when I open it to let them in the run they all drop down onto the sand. They also drop shavings down just going up/down the ramp. I hope to fix this problem with the addition I will be adding to the run this spring. I will close off the drop floor ramp and cut a hole on the side of the coop with a regular ramp out into the new run.

I do like the sand very much as it is easy to clean and they love to dig and scratch in it too! The shavings in the coop sprinkled with a little DE every now and then stays nice and fresh smelling as well. I usually will scoop out the big poo patties. I don't have room in my small coop for a poo board...I wish I did!

Anyway, I like both and think that the sand works great in the run and shavings in the coop and I'm going to keep it that way.

 

[MamaChic21]

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very nice coop/kids/house/dog/chickens, well pretty much everything

My neighbor is a detective, I'm praying for our neighbor, any of our neighbors will get hooked on chickens as we are because I'm planning on putting the coop about 200 ft away from their bedroom

(don't hate me hate the builder

) Hope u feel better with that ankle

 

[RockwaterFarm]

i put sand in my run too, but the only problem is that it freezes up in the winter and makes more hassel than if i only had dirt in it. its great in the summer though

 

[Chicklette 1]

What kind of hassle?

 

[Lisa202]

We have been having temps under 10 degrees, horrible snow storms and today an ice storm and it's still nice in their run...no freezing at all. But then my run is covered. I just cleaned it last weekend and put down some DE and Sweet PDZ and it all smells so clean and fresh. I would never use anything else.

 

[Chicklette 1]

I'm trying to sort this out so I can make a decision. I think maybe as stated earlier in this thread that if there is moisture in the sand, that could freeze and make it hard but if the run is covered and dry, that will not happen. Make sense?

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

Im thinking of sand in the coop for the floor....I wish we could make a POLL of some sort. Just out of interest I wonder how that would turn out? 2 categories: sand or bedding on coop floor and sand or..something else in run. This is all so...uh...involved I guess is the word. How did chickens survive back in the day when they slept in the barn and my granny threw out scratch in the morning?!? Im worried about drafts, condensation, DE, vaccinations, appropriate feed, predator control...Im turning gray as I write!

 

[Chicklette 1]

Well, I think I have finally made a decision as far as the sand issue. I am going to try sand in the pen but since I've had very good luck with the deep shavings (not composted), just a nice thick layer and additions as necessary, I am going to stay with the shavings and a little of the food grade DE mixed in to help dry the poop. I'll see how I like the sand in the run. I do have a sand box outside for them and I have to clean the poop out of there once in a while and it seems fairly easy to do with my pooper scooper rake and pan. I will only clean out the whole coop once or twice a year as I try to stay up on it all the time.