Is a sand floor in a run better than grass?

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

We just finished the attached run to our coop and right now we just have a muddy/sandy/grassy floor. We live in Florida so don't have "real" mud, but we do have major flooding issues. The area where the run is often sits in 1 inch of standing water in the rainy season.

We're about to move on to the ground-covering issue. I suppose we should buy sand since it's best for drainage, but I'm worried that the chickens will have no grass to peck around in.

The run is 72 square feet and I have three chickens.

Do you think I should add any grass? Or just make it all sand? Does having no grass to scratch around in make the chickens sad? And I don't mean that in an emotional sort of way... I just assume that chickens have a need to scratch around in dirt/grass and if we cover it all with sand, will it mean we'll have unhappy chickens?


Thoughts?

THANKS!!!

 

[SimplyForties]

They won't have grass for long no matter what you do. I vote sand!

 

[LarryPQ]

grass will grow through sand...why not do like a golf course: some sand, some grassy knolls? Then the sand can't get washed away because there is an existing root system.

 

[patandchickens]

Let them enjoy the grass while it lasts. If some of it (not necessarily grass per se, but the less-appealing deeper-rooted weeds) lingers for a good long while, so much the better for them; but you're not likely to have a lot of choice in the matter.

If your soil is sandy to begin with, I wouldn't worry about adding sand until/unless a mud or 'hole' problem develops.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[becky3086]

1 inch of standing water? Not good. I would put in sand and bevel it down so that the water can run off. As stated already, the grass won't last long anyway.

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

yeah, it's swampy here in the rainy season. Our water table is very high so when it rains buckets every. single. afternoon. the rain does sit there for quite a bit before it drains - days on end at times.

Our plan is to get a ton of sand, but I was worried that the chickens would be upset that they had nothing of interest to scratch around in. That's my big concern.... sheer chicken boredom. I know that sounds insane if you're a breeder, but we only have 3 chickens and I do want them to enjoy their little chicken lives.

 

[Malou-La-Croix]

Hi Kate! I'm in downtown Orlando with 2 hens and nice neighbors. But I still worry some jerk is going to rat me out and the city will try to make me get rid of them. I'm thinking of starting to study the laws and see if Orlando can be changed to allow chickens like so many other cities have been doing. Are you in Orlando proper or outside it?

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Quote:
Hi! I'm not in downtown... I'm actually in semi-rural Seminole County, about a 20 min drive on the E-W from downtown. Chickens are legal where I live, but our HOA is very much against them, so I have to keep my girls on the down-low

Sucks to have to keep them all so covert and worry that someone will rat me out, BUT our neighbor has about 25 chickens so I hope that will distract from my 3 quiet little girls - LOL.

If I were you I'd look very carefully into changing the laws. There were a couple of articles in the Orlando Sentinel about people in unincorporated Orange County who tried to petition for chickens and failed. One poor kid had a nice coop and a few chickens and had to get rid of all of them of face HUGE daily fines by code enforcement. One of the big hurdles is that people seem to equate chickens with hispanic immigrants and fear that they'll be in every backyard, used for meat or used for sacrifice. I only know this from reading the comments written below the online article. People are obviously very misinformed, but it's a mindset that will be very difficult to change. I wish you luck with it though...

 

[kezabel]

Quote:
I agree the grass won't last long in the coop. We only have 4 hens and they have access to the back of our yard and the area they are in is totally grass free now they managed to clear the yard within 2 weeks and nothing gets a chance to grow because they peck the new grass shoots as soon as they come up, I'd use sand too

 

[Imp]

Can you plant grass in a few trays and switch them out, to give them time to recover? Or buy sod as a treat for them? Good luck

Imp