Got sand? You should!
- Thread starter chellejeff
- Start date
Where do you get river sand from? (If you tell me... straight from the river, I'm going to kick myself, lol)
Sand is the bees-knees for odor control! We have 13 ton delivered twice a year for our dogs. It all gets dumped in a huge pile under a shady tree and over the course of 6 months they make it a flat mound. It stays cool in the shade for them and pulls all their doggy odors off their fur. We have 5 dogs and no doggy smells. I shall definitely be using it in our coop! We pay $80 for 13 ton of white river sand in SE Texas.
- Apr 17, 2012
- 10
- 0
- 22
Thanks so much for the suggestion to do a deeper layer of sand - we plan to try that!
We switched to all river sand 2 years ago and we love it. The chickens love it too!
Being almost 60, fixed income, and not very handy, this is what I made. I used a 5' x 10' dog pen with a tarp roof, insulation boards sandwiched between another tarp, corrugated cardboard on sunny side and trellis on 3 sunny sides, a tree support pole for a perch, dog water dish (small fish net to remove foreign objects when needed), plant saucer for food (will buy a hanging feeder later), and $1 store small clothes basket for a nest.
Been putting 7 week old pullets in cage during the day and bringing in at night until I can construct a cut out box to sit under at one corner of perch if they seek shelter for warmth during the night while still young.
The floor was clay and my yard is covered in 1/2" stones. I could not rake clean the pen nor find the droppings--except on the bottom of my shoes. I decided to try sand as noted by numerous posters. I was going to use play sand sold by the home improvement stores. When I saw some spilled on the floor, it was not what I had envisioned. It look like fine dirt and was easily blown into dust with a small puff of air. Some BYC posters mentioned commercial grade sand, so I found some in a broken bag to inspect. This was grade #30 and looked more like fine sand and was the size of play sand I remembered as a child. I would not use the other stuff due to the dust factor. The store also carried Commercial grade #20 medium course sand and wasn't sure it would work with what I was planning with the screened scooper, so I ended up purchasing the Washed Commercial Grade # 30 sand.
I was going to buy a reptile poo scooper, but it was $10. Instead I bought a medium food stainer for $4. The reptile poo scooper had a flat side where the food strainer was rounded. The screen holes were identical in size. I tried it the first time and it works perfect. With a little shake, no dust and the sand fell through the screen leaving only the pooh. I would have preferred the small food screened scooper, however, the medium probably is a better choice when poohs become larger and more in volume. It took me 30 seconds to clean the whole cage.
My 5' x 10' area took 500 lbs of sand. It covered the whole area to a depth of 1" to 2". I feel 2 more bags would have been perfect. I drive an economy size car so all I could fit were the 5 - 100 lb bags. I could picture my car flipping on the back wheels doing wheelies if I bought more...ha ha ha. Spreading the sand was a piece of cake with a metal dirt rake using the flat side.
So for me, this sand is a blessing. Their inside cage I use small pine shavings (afterwards I learned I should have bought the large pine shavings--because it is better for the chicks). I clean it several times a day and change it once a week. Cleaning pine shaving in the two small cages takes me 10 to 20 min. each time because I go through the shavings making sure I didn't miss any pooh. I could imagine the mess it would become if I covered the entire outside cage in pine shavings and the time it would take going over every inch to clean. With the sand, there it lays on top easy to be found and cleaned.
Sits on top of the sand, easy to find
Med size food strainer
After a few gentle shakes, sand falls through, collected a few rocks I missed too
Walked through the whole pen and no more poopie soles
Empty pooh in composter to use later for garden
View of inside the pen with the sand,
notice all the tracks,,,they seem to love it too.
Now all I have to do is wait for the other chicks
to be big enough to join them.
Before laying down the sand, I sprinkled DE (Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth)
along the inside perimeter. It worked and here is the proof. Since the DE is
food grade, I left this tasty morsel for them to enjoy.
In conclusion, I couldn't be happier. I am glad I decided to use sand and thankful for all of those who shared this better alternative.
Been putting 7 week old pullets in cage during the day and bringing in at night until I can construct a cut out box to sit under at one corner of perch if they seek shelter for warmth during the night while still young.
The floor was clay and my yard is covered in 1/2" stones. I could not rake clean the pen nor find the droppings--except on the bottom of my shoes. I decided to try sand as noted by numerous posters. I was going to use play sand sold by the home improvement stores. When I saw some spilled on the floor, it was not what I had envisioned. It look like fine dirt and was easily blown into dust with a small puff of air. Some BYC posters mentioned commercial grade sand, so I found some in a broken bag to inspect. This was grade #30 and looked more like fine sand and was the size of play sand I remembered as a child. I would not use the other stuff due to the dust factor. The store also carried Commercial grade #20 medium course sand and wasn't sure it would work with what I was planning with the screened scooper, so I ended up purchasing the Washed Commercial Grade # 30 sand.
I was going to buy a reptile poo scooper, but it was $10. Instead I bought a medium food stainer for $4. The reptile poo scooper had a flat side where the food strainer was rounded. The screen holes were identical in size. I tried it the first time and it works perfect. With a little shake, no dust and the sand fell through the screen leaving only the pooh. I would have preferred the small food screened scooper, however, the medium probably is a better choice when poohs become larger and more in volume. It took me 30 seconds to clean the whole cage.
My 5' x 10' area took 500 lbs of sand. It covered the whole area to a depth of 1" to 2". I feel 2 more bags would have been perfect. I drive an economy size car so all I could fit were the 5 - 100 lb bags. I could picture my car flipping on the back wheels doing wheelies if I bought more...ha ha ha. Spreading the sand was a piece of cake with a metal dirt rake using the flat side.
So for me, this sand is a blessing. Their inside cage I use small pine shavings (afterwards I learned I should have bought the large pine shavings--because it is better for the chicks). I clean it several times a day and change it once a week. Cleaning pine shaving in the two small cages takes me 10 to 20 min. each time because I go through the shavings making sure I didn't miss any pooh. I could imagine the mess it would become if I covered the entire outside cage in pine shavings and the time it would take going over every inch to clean. With the sand, there it lays on top easy to be found and cleaned.
Sits on top of the sand, easy to find
Med size food strainer
After a few gentle shakes, sand falls through, collected a few rocks I missed too
Walked through the whole pen and no more poopie soles
Empty pooh in composter to use later for garden
View of inside the pen with the sand,
notice all the tracks,,,they seem to love it too.
Now all I have to do is wait for the other chicks
to be big enough to join them.
Before laying down the sand, I sprinkled DE (Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth)
along the inside perimeter. It worked and here is the proof. Since the DE is
food grade, I left this tasty morsel for them to enjoy.
In conclusion, I couldn't be happier. I am glad I decided to use sand and thankful for all of those who shared this better alternative.
Last edited:
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