How to keep the sand in the coop?

[sumu]

When I used wood pellets and/or straw, I just put a board across the front of the (Suncast plastic/resin ) coop entry and most of it stayed in the coop. I am thinking of changing to sand, but how do I keep that in the coop? A simple board won't work, will it? I imagine that sand flies faster and farther than pellets, no?
Thanks
Suzanne
Ann Arbor, MI

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I use sand in my two shed coops. One of them is a plastic shed- I use a thin layer of sand and keep it kind of raked back from the door. No issues. I use a plastic rake and kitty litter scoop every couple of days to keep the poo cleaned up. A bag of washed and dried play sand costs $5 and lasts for about a month per shed coop.

If I go wild and dump the whole bag in there all at once then I end up having to sift through TONS of sand every time I clean it out and it takes ever so much longer- the dust flies around too when this happens.