How the heck can I DO this? Getting frustrated.

[slurrywidow]

SAND!!

I can't tell you how nice it is! When I first put up the run it was raining (as always) and just from walking around it for a few days while building it, I had a huge soggy mess. I'd read that many other BYCers used sand and since my hubby has a supply of it from work I thought I'd try it. Best decision I ever made. No more soggy, smelly, poopy, muddy mess. Even when we had the snow, and the HEAVY rain my run didn't have a single puddle.

I just rake it every so often, more from the girls digging bathing holes than from needing to move around poop. Everything just seems to mix together and no smell. Plus it only takes about 2 days of decent-ish weather for it to really dry out and then the girls go to town bathing and gossiping together.

It really is the way to go here in Oregon.

 

[badbowtie]

I have seen so many people talking about using sand but nobody really saying what kind just the play sand from local hardware store?

 

[elmo]

Roof your run, take out the gravel, and put down sand. It's a big job initially, but then you'll be pretty much done. The only maintenance I have with our sand runs is to scoop out droppings with a litter scoop taped to a long handle, rake it occasionally and add a bag or two of fresh sand once or twice a year. I have another run with wood chips and leaves in it, and the chickens do like scratching around in the leaves, but it's much more work. I have to rake out the leaves periodically and replace them with fresh ones, which means I have to rake the leaves up from our yard and bag them for later use.

I use all purpose sand that I buy at Lowes. For some strange reason, the all purpose sand they sell at our local Home Depot is too fine. A coarse, rather than fine sand, is better. You don't want it clumping up if it gets wet.

I'll probably replace the leaves in our big run with sand sometime this year, and for that purpose I'm thinking of getting a truckload of road sand delivered.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
If you have access to a place that sells bricks and pavers they usually carry sand by the yard. Of course if you dont need so much by all means get it in the bag. But it would be the kind of sand youd find in a river bed smal and large particles not super screened for uniformity. Its cheap in bulk this way. If you dont have a truck you can rent one at Home depot and get a load from the sand supplier. Or have it delivered.

FWIW to cover a 10 foot by 10 foot area 6 inches deep it wil take approximately 2 yards of sand give or take. A full sized pickup filled to the top.

 

[B'villechicken]

Here in the Syracuse area we have alot of sand & gravel pits. I have found that they sell a small pea-sized stone mixed with coarse sand that is used for driveways. I put 6" of that in my run and it works great. When it packs down from chicken feet and gets a crust on it, I use an electric tiller to stir it up. If you are going to use plain sand, I would suggest getting coarse as possible. Play sand tends to be too fine. The key words are "builders sand" or "sharp sand".

David

 

[badbowtie]

Okay I have a gravel pit locally that has a bunch of stuff I will just take the dump truck up and get a load.

 

[Newbie in Screamer Al]

If you put gravel downd about 2 inches, and then sand over it, it will drain well, and the birds love scratchin in the sand. They can also get there treats like scratch and corn from the sand easier than the gravel base. IMO that is.

 

[elmo]

Newbie in Screamer Al, :

If you put gravel downd about 2 inches, and then sand over it, it will drain well, and the birds love scratchin in the sand. They can also get there treats like scratch and corn from the sand easier than the gravel base. IMO that is.

The only drawback to this is that it doesn't take chickens very long to scratch down through a thin layer of sand into the gravel. Then the gravel gets mixed in with the sand, which means you can't really use a litter scoop to remove the droppings from the sand anymore (you'll get a scoop full of gravel, too). If you don't plan on bothering with the poo scooping, this isn't a drawback.​

 

[Newbie in Screamer Al]

Your right on that elmo. I fortunately have an unlimited supply of sand here, and the way I overcame that scratching down to the gravel part was to put 6-9 inches of sand over it. My neighbor brought me a full load of it for free. Gotta love neighbors huh?,LOL/ When I need to add more sand, I just pour it in the roof with the loader of the tractor, and rake it even.
Quote:
The only drawback to this is that it doesn't take chickens very long to scratch down through a thin layer of sand into the gravel. Then the gravel gets mixed in with the sand, which means you can't really use a litter scoop to remove the droppings from the sand anymore (you'll get a scoop full of gravel, too). If you don't plan on bothering with the poo scooping, this isn't a drawback.

 

[DTRM30]

My run was a mud pit - I put in small gravel - about a 4" layer - and it's been perfect. I rake it a few times a year and havn't had any problems. I like that my girls are no longer walking around in mud ! It's on a slight slope so most of the water drains away. I have the run covered with some fence wire and a tarp. We have a converted dog kennel for our run. The problem with sand for me is that I would have needed to put boards or something all the way around the perimiter to keep it from leaking out from the run (to keep the gravel in I just used old concrete pavers from a patio that was removed - the gravel doesn't slip through them like sand would) - and the rain would just wash it away with the slight slope we have. Plus, in order to keep the sand from becoming part of the mud pit, I would have needed a good 6" layer - and sand around here is not cheap - the gravel was cheaper. I had tried hay, leaves, etc. prior, and found that they would just decompose making things worse. Between raking it and the rain that runs through it, it stays fairly clean and for the most part odor free.