Got sand? You should!

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We have switched to and as well here, here being FL, and not the northern part of the state either. We tend to stay mild during the winter here sand and true cold are not a factor.

The floor of the coop is sealed wood that I painted in 3 coats of oil based white. Sand piled in onto of that. The girls love it and so do I for cleaning. The goats (other end of the barn) still have shavings, but will be moving out soon and giving their space to ducks. The goats have a new building all their own.

It seems the use of sand topic is stirring strong feelings and responses. Remember not everyone wants to or has space to compost. Also not everyone lives where itbturns cold, so heat retention in winter is not an issue either. Be sure to mention where you live when mentioning your choice of bedding in a coop, or run for that matter.

Shellie
 
So wait a minute- you scoop up the poop? How many chickens do you have? I couldn't imaigine scooping up the poop-chickns poop a lot and I have 33 chickens in total! My chicken house gets cleaned once maybe twice a year if that. The shavings and poo will go to the garden or the field.
 
What about an 8-12 inch deep tamped sand floor with shavings over the top in the winter?

Just weighing the pros and cons of converting an existing 10x20 with a dirt floor (I would dig down, install a wire barricade, then cover with sand) vs building a new 12x8 shed with a wood floor. Located in Central Oregon, so semi-arid high desert plains - summer temps average 85F days/45F nights and winters are 40F/20F, although we have had winter nights as low as 2 when we have a cold spell come through.
 
Im about to build our first coop and after reading this i think im going to use sand. Im only going to have 4 to 6 chickens and i think for the clean up the sand will do best.
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I raised Coturnix in hardware cloth pens. They absolutely love dust baths, so I would think they would like sand. However, their poops are tiny and STINKY (high protein feed) and I'm not sure you would want that mixed with the sand. You would have to be changing out the sand fairly frequently. A poop board is best. A large dusting area for them would be something they would absolutelly love! They would spend hours in it. I put a shoe box full of sand and de in their pens every day for them to dust. They would all be in it at once!
 
If the sand gets wet, and it gets below freezing in the house, then the sand will freeze. I track snow in with me now and again, and end up with frozen spots. Usually the garden rake is all it takes to break up the frozen sand. Wet wood shavings will do the same thing, maybe even to a greater extent. Wood shavings definitely track worse than sand. The amount of mess that I track out of the hen house has dropped significantly since switching to sand. Dust in the house is almost non existent compared to the wood shavings that were very dusty. Smell is way down also.
 
After reading this entire thread (very entertaining and informative!), I'm tossing my two cents in the penny can on a few of the discussions within this thread...

Several folks still seem to be wondering about what makes a better bedding. Here is an article about chickens and bedding behavior/preferences.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/artic...s-bedding-on-the-behavior-of-broiler-chickens

Having weighed the pros and cons of bedding choices, I will be using sand in my small hen house this spring. Easy enough to obtain (for the cost of my labor) at a nearby sand dune. Yep, sand dunes here in landlocked Idaho! I live in SE part of the state (zone 3-4) where the ground freezes solid each winter. I do not recall having seen 'frozen sand' in winter, perhaps because of our arid climate, but wet sand certainly could freeze solid. Another informative article, thought not 'chicken' related. http://nsidc.org/frozenground/how_fg_forms.html

I am wondering about several comments about excessive moisture in bedding material near chicken water stations. It is my understanding that chickens utilize gravity when drinking and that putting a watering station at a proper height allows the bird to 'swallow' water without the head shaking behavior that slings water everywhere. Is the height of the watering station a factor in excess water around the stations?

I look forward to reading and learning more!

(Yay, the links seem to work!)
 
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I have been following this thread since Day 1. I continue to use sand and I LOVE it! I have my sand placed in my peacock aviary run. I have a VERY wide and long run. We have had much rain over the past month and I have to report that the rain water did not affect the sand in any way. The sand looks the same that it looked from Day 1 of me putting the sand in the aviary. I purchased 3 yards of "washed sand" and it works great for me. It is NOT clumpy at all. The sand has not washed away. To be honest, it looks like nothing moved. It's in the same place it was when I first put it in.
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It's a VERY smooth surface. I go in there every day and I really don't pick up any sand on the bottom of my boots and bring inside the house. The peacocks love it. The poop falls on the sand it makes a "good stick". All I do is go in with a pooper scooper and pick it up and bag it. The sand is way better than my dirt runs. I refuse to use shavings because of my hesitations and the costly expense. I filled up the back of my pickup truck and then some with sand and it only cost me $20.00. I won't be needing sand anytime soon.
 
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