Dhkoenig
Songster
Hi Guys - I decided to bite the bullet and I am going to put sand in my big dirt run. We have two covered runs that are attached by a chicken door. The original run is 10x16 and has a slanted corrugated plastic roof and has one side with corrugated plastic and then another little panel that is also covered but two walls are completely open with just hardware cloth. The second and newer part is 10x12 and has a slanted shingled roof but no siding other than hardware cloth on 3 sides (the side that adjoins them is covered)
So.....I have done plain dirt and I am a daily scooper and it has been fine but three of my new pullets have feathered feet so I think the dirt (esp when wet from rain) will be bad. I tried chopped straw as an experiment and also shavings but when they get wet it is worse than dirt because when shavings get wet and combine with any kicked up droppings etc it is just a cesspool of illness waiting to happen even if I scoop every day (which I do with OCD fervor) So..... I decided Sand would be great but I only ordered 1 cubic yard which doesn't achieve the 3-4 inches of sand that everyone says you should do.
What is holding me back from doing the entire 4 inches in both runs is....at least with the straw and hay, when things didn't go as planned I could rake it all out and use it as mulch and go back to the dirt run. If that happens with sand, UGH cannot imagine how heavy it would be to try to get that out. If it didn't end up being a good option, could I just put top soil over it and use the sand as drainage under the topsoil?
I am not sure if I should start off with just like an inch in both runs instead of 3-4 inches to see if it is good so I don't get stuck having to get rid of tonnage of sand or if I should just go all in and do it the way everyone says 3-4 inches and if it ends up not being great, with rain or whatever, I can just clean it up and pour a ton of top soil over it.
Thoughts?
So.....I have done plain dirt and I am a daily scooper and it has been fine but three of my new pullets have feathered feet so I think the dirt (esp when wet from rain) will be bad. I tried chopped straw as an experiment and also shavings but when they get wet it is worse than dirt because when shavings get wet and combine with any kicked up droppings etc it is just a cesspool of illness waiting to happen even if I scoop every day (which I do with OCD fervor) So..... I decided Sand would be great but I only ordered 1 cubic yard which doesn't achieve the 3-4 inches of sand that everyone says you should do.
What is holding me back from doing the entire 4 inches in both runs is....at least with the straw and hay, when things didn't go as planned I could rake it all out and use it as mulch and go back to the dirt run. If that happens with sand, UGH cannot imagine how heavy it would be to try to get that out. If it didn't end up being a good option, could I just put top soil over it and use the sand as drainage under the topsoil?
I am not sure if I should start off with just like an inch in both runs instead of 3-4 inches to see if it is good so I don't get stuck having to get rid of tonnage of sand or if I should just go all in and do it the way everyone says 3-4 inches and if it ends up not being great, with rain or whatever, I can just clean it up and pour a ton of top soil over it.
Thoughts?
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