little sand, lotsa sand and what if it fails?

[Kelster65]

Exactly what I was thinking! Good luck. Hopefully, I can keep some of it dryer that way.

I'll let you know. I even put concrete around the front of the coop to keep water from going on. It's been torrential rain this summer and NOTHING can stand up to 6 inches of rain in a matter of 2 hours.

 

[linguini]

We settled with sand in the run and have been very happy with it - the run never got wet or muddy like before. I've only refilled the sand a couple times. I also throw yard wastes to the run which they love! No smell with plenty ventilation. The only gross part is their poop on the wood frame and the perches which I power wash every few months. The run so far is practically maintenance free!

 

[Luv Ducks]

PUPTECK Fast Sifting Cat Litter Scoop - Long Handle Metal Scooper with Deep Shovel, Heavy Duty & Non-Stick Cat Litter Sifter https://a.co/d/cx0pD8T

This is what I got and I added some screen to the bottom so the finer sand can go through but poop stays in the scooper.

I just ordered this for my sand pen. Thanks for the info. Can you please tell me how you attached your screen to it?

 

[Kelster65]

I just ordered this for my sand pen. Thanks for the info. Can you please tell me how you attached your screen to it?

I have some 1/4" hardware cloth, cut out some for the bottom and sides then use either little 4" zip ties or bread twist ties to hold it in place. Its easy so I can take it apart to clean it. I also use a little 4' children's rake I bought at tractor supply to help me gather up feathers and things - its narrow so gets in the nooks and crannies. My coop stays pretty clean. I hope you enjoy your sand. I really love it.

 

[Kelster65]

We settled with sand in the run and have been very happy with it - the run never got wet or muddy like before. I've only refilled the sand a couple times. I also throw yard wastes to the run which they love! No smell with plenty ventilation. The only gross part is their poop on the wood frame and the perches which I power wash every few months. The run so far is practically maintenance free!

yeah...I use a putty knife and clean mine off every day. When fresh of course it's wet and smears but it does too and the putty knife is great for cleaning. I think it takes me maybe 5 minutes to clean my 10'x14' coop each morning, but then again I only have 6 chickens and 5 ducks.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I have some 1/4" hardware cloth, cut out some for the bottom and sides then use either little 4" zip ties or bread twist ties to hold it in place. Its easy so I can take it apart to clean it. I also use a little 4' children's rake I bought at tractor supply to help me gather up feathers and things - its narrow so gets in the nooks and crannies. My coop stays pretty clean. I hope you enjoy your sand. I really love it.

Thank you soooooo much!!!!

 

[Luv Ducks]

I went out today and bought a battery charged leaf blower. I have 14 ducks and I think everyone is molting at the same time. It looks like a had a feather bed out there and it broke open. lol I am planning on blowing the feathers to the sides of the coop and then gathering them up. There are just so many and they are everywhere. Hopefully this works for me. It rained today so I will wait until they dry out and then give it a try.

 

[ChiChi0917]

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?View attachment 3192773

Hi there,
I use sand and pea gravel in mine for my silkies and have been more then happy with it. The sand helps cover and dry the poop faster just like a litter box for a cat. And about once a week I spray microbe-lift which is a cleaner and deodorizer that breaks the poop down and gets rid of it. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Kelster65]

Hi there,
I use sand and pea gravel in mine for my silkies and have been more then happy with it. The sand helps cover and dry the poop faster just like a litter box for a cat. And about once a week I spray microbe-lift which is a cleaner and deodorizer that breaks the poop down and gets rid of it. Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh that sounds neat. I use pea gravel and sand in my run, sand in the coop. I haven't heard of microbelift but I'm looking into it now! That sounds pretty fabulous.

 

[chrissyr]

Hi there,
I use sand and pea gravel in mine for my silkies and have been more then happy with it. The sand helps cover and dry the poop faster just like a litter box for a cat. And about once a week I spray microbe-lift which is a cleaner and deodorizer that breaks the poop down and gets rid of it. Let me know if you have any questions.

Microbe-lift ? Can you tell me more? I currently have pea gravel and sand over landscape type fabric- but the smell still gets overwhelming. I've never heard of microbe-lift before. I assume it's safe for birds, since it's supposed to be safe for fish (just looked it up). Can you tell me more of how you use it?