Have been using sand in the run for 3 mons..now what?

[joebryant]

Quote:
Let me put it like this. If it were not for food-grade DE, I would not keep chickens because my wife would kill me if there were a smell out there.

 

[midd2005]

i plan on putting in about 3 inches of sand at the bottom of my 15x5 run. my poor math skills says this is about 18 square feet. but from what i can figure out, construction sand/masonry sand/cement sand all come in measurements of tons. anybody have a ballpark number for me of how many tons i need?

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
3 inches equal .25 foot
15 x 5 x .25 = 18.75 cubic feet
20 cubic feet of dry sand = one ton

 

[BankerJohn]

if you have both rock and sand, there needs to be a barrier to keep the sand from filling the voids between the rocks. Rock, then landscape cloth, then sand for the top.

As for the compaction, you are describing exactly what happens when the sand fills the voids of rock and compacts. As for do over?; your girls will love you for it

but is it really necessary?

 

[kcsunshine]

Yes. Some of my birds have bumblefoot and I'm almost sure it's from jumping down off the roost into the run and out of the nests into the run and hitting the rocks. I may be wrong, but I don't think so. So now, I've not only got the big clean-up, but I've got treatments for BBfoot to do also. Yuk, Yuk, and more Yuk.

 

[daytonfarm]

Why don't you try putting landscape fabric over what you have now and then add the sand. You could have the fabric go up the sides a little to keep the sand from falling out the sides. All that digging sounds awful to me and then where do you put the stuff you dug out.
Just a thought.

 

[kcsunshine]

I know! I spent this spring digging out all the leaves and deep litter stuff from winter, then put down the gravel and sand all by myself. (Hubby said he had never seen anyone work so hard). The thoughts of doing it again just makes me tired.

 

[stevin]

i went thru the exact same thing. i bordered my run w/ 4x4 post and filled that with sand on top of 3/4" stone gravel. it didn't take long for the chicken to scratch thru 3 1/2" of sand and dig up the gravel. so what i did was put 2x6's on edge resting on the 4x4's and that added another 5 1/2" of height. filled it with sand and now i have close to 8" of sand and it's been that way for a couple of months now w/no issues of them scratching thru it. they still dig their holes here and there but they only go half way down. everyweek when i go in there to rake out the droppings and feathers i backfill any holes the chickens might have dug. i also keep a small pile of sand behind the shed if i ever need to add a lil more. so save the sand you have now along with the gravel and try to build up the sides so that you can add a few more inches of sand. looking at the pics of your run i would back off the sand from the fencing a couple of inches and go as far down till you hit the gravel. you can drop in a 2x6 on its edge or in your case a 2x8 would probably be better. that will allow you to have a tmost 7 1/2"of sand and there is no need to secure the wood because the sand will hold it in place up against the fencing.

 

[BayouPoules]

Masonry sand! I know what that is! Thanks for the replies,. it does clear things up. We sure are going to have a better run because of this thread!

 

[whillo]

Re the DE, I finally found some up here in Oregon at the Wilco. Yayyy! Shipping it was ridiculous. It doubled the price of a bag. I have an 8 x 4 foot run with construction sand (which doesn't seem quite fine enough, although that's what I've been reading was the best. It packs down too hard and I keep having to dig, turn and rake.) So I went to add some DE today and realized that I really have no clue as to how much should be in there with the sand. Joebryant, can you give me an idea of how much you use, and how often you add more?

Thank you!