Got sand? You should!

[Lauravonsmurf]

I kept my geese, ducks & chickens together, we used a kids pool... I never had a chicken fall in, we also had waterers so there was fresh water. But it did get messy sometimes, but I did notice the kiddy pool water really made the garden grow nice. I used straw back then, I am considering other options.

 

[greasemonkey88]

I use the DLM. Clean twice a year and won't get compact and frozen like concrete in winter like sand.

 

[jonalisa]

I just want to thank chellejeff for starting this thread. When I first read through this thread in April, I was still awaiting the arrival of my first chicks and finishing up construction of my coop and run. I decided to go with sand in the 10'x10' coop for my nine chicks. It was $10/yard. It was such a piece of cake to keep clean that, as soon as the run was ready, I also filled it with sand.

In the coop, I added a poop board and filled it with a mix of sand and sweet PDZ. However, after a week or two, I switched to sweet PDZ only. It is so easy to sift with a cat scoop and there's never an odor. As for the floor of the coop, I use mostly sand with some PDZ and DE mixed in. I have zero odor issues and sand is never too hot, too cold or damp/wet.

In the run, the rain does get the sand wet about 8 inches in from the wall (the run is 12'x16'), but it dries quickly and the chickens don't seem to mind it or avoid it. In fact, with temps in the mid 90's this week, I misted all of the sand with cool water and it really cooled the run down. The sand was dry quickly, but the chickens were a lot cooler. I added sweet PDZ on top of the sand once, but find it isn't really necessary. I scoop the run whenever I'm in there, and there's never an odor issue. I have a rubber feed bin that I filled with sand, PDZ and DE for dustbathing, but they prefer the straight sand and underlying dirt in the corner of the run.

I also like that the waterers stay cleaner because the sand sinks to the bottom.

So in the morning, I grab my dollar store cat scoop and scoop the poop board. That's where 99% of the poop is. Then I scoop the floor, which takes seconds really. I use one poop bucket with lid, with sweet PDZ sprinkled in it, for the coop and another one for the run. All the poop goes on my compost. The PDZ removes the ammonia smell and it is edible and compostable.

I am so very happy I chose sand. No downsides thus far. Thanks chelejeff!

 

[jonalisa]

I just want to thank chellejeff for starting this thread. When I first read through this thread in April, I was still awaiting the arrival of my first chicks and finishing up construction of my coop and run. I decided to go with sand in the coop for my nine chicks. It was $10/yard.

It was such a piece of cake to keep clean that, as soon as the run was ready, I also filled it with sand.
In the coop, I added a poop board and filled it with a mix of sand and sweet PDZ. However, after a week or two, I switched to sweet PDZ only. It is so easy to sift with a cat scoop.

As for the floor of the coop, I use mostly sand with some PDZ mixed in. I have zero odor issues and sand is never too hot, too cold or damp/wet.

In the run, the rain does get the sand wet about 8 inches in from the wall, but it dries quickly and the chickens don't seem to mind or avoid it. In fact, with temps in the mid 90's this week, I misted all of the sand with cool water and it really cooled the run down. The sand was dry quickly, but the chickens were a
lot cooler. I added sweet PDZ on top of the sand once, but find it isn't really necessary. I have a rubber feed bin that I filled with sand, PDZ and DE for dustbathing.

In the morning I grab my dollar store cat scoop and scoop the poop board. That's where 99% of the poop is. Then I scoop the floor, which takes seconds really. I use one poop bucket, with sweet PLZ sprinkled in it, for the coop and another for the run. All the poop goes on my compost. The PDZ removes the ammonia smell and it is edible and compostable.

I am so very happy I chose sand. No downsides thus far. Thanks chelejeff!

 

[Southern Dad]

When I build my chicken house, the run was great. It had lush grass in it, the chickens were happy. Two weeks later, it was completely devoid of anything growing. The ground stayed wet but not muddy. To make it worse, I had to run a shovel over it daily and it still stunk of poop.

After reading many threads on here of the value of sand, I was convinced. So, I read some more to determine where to get my sand. I'm a frugal individual. My local Home Depot has play sand but its $3.77 for a 50 lbs bag which is only 0.5 cu ft. After reading all these threads. I dropped by a local place that sells Sand & Gravel. He looked at me real strange. Probably because I was driving my Lincoln Navigator. I told him that I wanted six 18 gallon totes of river sand. He started doing lots of math on a calculator and I started thinking that he was getting ready to be expensive but $10 got me six full totes. Now something important to remember… An 18 gallon tote full of sand weighs 225 lbs. Bring your strong back. I swear that sixth one had some bricks in the bottom of it.

I got it all home, shoveled out the fresh poop. Then proceeded to fill the run with sand. Tote after tote. Then I raked it out. When I let the chickens in, they went to scratching and strutting. I think that they are happy. Most of all, I'm happy. I went out to the coop this morning and easily scooped out several non-smelly dried chicken droppings.

 

[deepbluesea]

Question for experienced sand people: could I use regular old beach sand?

 

[MobyMack]

We just finished our first coop, and I did a lot of searching around our area (Raleigh, NC) for course construction sand or river sand and came up with nothing. I finally learned that in our area, the term they use is "screenings" for this type of course sand. I was able to go to a local granite quarry with our pick up truck and get 3/4 ton of screenings for just $11.00!!! This was more than enough sand to cover the ground in our 6x8 ft run with 3 inches of sand. I also put some on the floor of the coop.

Here's a close up of the "screenings".

 

[Theegoliath]

When we got our hens, we let them free range in our backyard while we prepped the side of the garage for there pen. When we were done, it was just bare dirt. In only a few days time, the flys became unbearable for us. It has been a record high summer here for us in the Pacific Northwest, but that aside, it was no excuse for the volume of flys we had. I researched around, and found posts like this threads original. We swithced to cleaned construction river sand (not play sand), and havn't looked back since.

The flys are hardly noticable now. Cleaning is a breeze in comparison to dirt. I've had other pets, and wood shavings were out. To bulky and annoying to get rid of it. Drainage is amazing as well. The sand will dry well before dirt would ever have dried.

To clean the pen, I took a pitch fork, and zip tied 1/2" x 1/2" wire mesh to it. Like a big kitty litter scoop. It works amazing to pick out the clumps. We put 2" of sand in the pen, and 1.5" in the coop itself. It make cleaning a breeze, and the smell is so much better as well.

Some people worry that sand will harbor bacteria, and be unhealthy. Well I look at it this way. If people have successfully used sand for more then 5 years with out outbreak, or incident, it's good enough for me. Also, because it drains so much better, there is less moisture for bacteria to grow in as well.

Sand!

 

[Theegoliath]

Quote:
It's not recommended because its not as stable. The grains of sand should be different sizes, like river sand. Bigger pieces, along with the tiny "beach" sand pieces helps it to lock together better. Who likes to walk on desert sand all day long slipping and sliding?

 

[CarolynF]

Question for experienced sand people: could I use regular old beach sand?

Not from a salt water beach. They eat the larger pieces of sand and the residual salt would be a problem.