This morning I put around 5 inches of sand in my run. Not in my coop, it has shavings because I heard that sand wasn't good in a coop. (Not insulating enough?) I was wondering how often I would need to scoop the poop out of the run with a pitch fork covered with hardware wire. It is 8'x10' and I have 7 7-week old pullets/cockerels. I will eventually end up with only 4 or 5 chickens because I have to give the roosters away. Also, it is under the playhouse so it stays completely dry, no matter how much rain pours. Once a week? Once a month?
Take with a grain of salt, I've only had (my first ever!) chickens in the coop/run for two months now! We have about 4-5 inches of sand and I scoop once or twice a day. I went out of town for four days last week, during which time husband did not scoop once. Thought I'd come home to loads of poop, but no, no more than usual. Seemed like it disintegrates when trampled by chicken feet. Have a feeling the magical disintegrating poop phenomenon might be why some folks with small runs end up with poop smelling sand. See what other people say, I'm interested to hear more comments too!
