Issues with sand in run

[aart]

it's completely pointless

No, it isn't pointless at all, it is great for decomposing the poops.

 

[Shadrach]

No, it isn't pointless at all, it is great for decomposing the poops.

So is dug ground.

 

[3KillerBs]

If on the other hand chooses wood chip then you've just added expense. Wood chip, particularly the large chip variety isn't particularly comfortable for chickens to walk on and on top of a sand base it's completely pointless.

I do not have a sand run. I have sand for my geology.

Wood chips are no expense. We had tree work done and have the chips.

The ONE advantage to living on top of about 300 feet of nearly-pure quartz sand is that I have SPECTACULAR drainage -- except on top of that thin lens of white clay where I'm using my chickens to improve the ground (which amounts to an area about 14 feet square (and happens to be in the most favorable location to put a garden)).

Digging over a run and digging in the chicken shit should improve the soil over time. It's never a bad idea in any conditions I can think of.

Digging over the ground to incorporate the organic material from the chickens is certainly likely to be helpful over time.

But when the ground is already pure sand the poop is not going to decompose into soil. It's just going to rot and stink without the addition of some kind of organic litter.

So is dug ground.

Only if the ground has the necessary qualities to cope with the chicken poop.

Not all geology is equal. Not all soils are equal.

A healthy soil can undoubtedly cope with a considerable amount of chicken coop when you create conditions suited to the action of aerobic, composting bacteria. I don't doubt this.

My soil is almost exactly equivalent to a dune at the beach. You could try the experiment of burying chicken poop in a sandbox and seeing what happens.

 

[Shadrach]

Yup, I read and understood you land is sandy and you weren't adding more.

You could try the experiment of burying chicken poop in a sandbox and seeing what happens.

I don't need to. I've seen chickens kept in Morocco and on the edge of the Sahara desert. They dig it in there.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yup, I read and understood you land is sandy and you weren't adding more.


I don't need to. I've seen chickens kept in Morocco and on the edge of the Sahara desert. They dig it in there.

Does it ever rain there?

Or does the poop mummify in the dryness?

In my ground it wouldn't mummify, it would rot and reek without the organic carbon to compost with.