little sand, lotsa sand and what if it fails?

[Dhkoenig]

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

Update to Update!

After just going along and going along with the dirt (never bad but like some of you, I had areas that got drenched when there was a hard driving rain) and then some one in this wonderful forum told me about pine pellets! GAME CHANGER for me! While it may seem expensive because I need about 6 of the 40 pound boxes, I have only had to replenish it once since I first put it in and it is not expensive per box.

They are pellets, that look like feed pellets, and they absorb SOOOO much water! It is cool because when they get wet, they turn into this really fine almost like sawdust texture. At first I thought, jeez, they dissolve after the first rain, so am i supposed to buy 6 more 40 pound boxes each time it rains? But then I learned that after they dissolve they are still as absorbent. I have a 3 inch layer of it on almost the entirety of one of the runs and each time it rains, it soaks the rain up and then when it dries, it goes back to the nice dry material it was before it rained. It makes scooping SO easy. You can see the poops really well so you don't miss any and it clumps so it scoops right up. I recently replenished it because I scoop daily so over time the level needs replacing but to me this is the ultimate solution for runs. I still use hemp in the coop because it is always nice and dry in there and it smells so fresh and easy to scoop.

Small Pet Select sells the Pine Pellet Bedding.

 

[NatJ]

pine pellets!

Yes, pine pellets are really good for some purposes

Small Pet Select sells the Pine Pellet Bedding.

If there is a Tractor Supply store near you, I suggest you check the price on their pine pellet bedding (40 pound bag with a picture of a horse and some other animals on the front.) It appears to be the same stuff, but at a lower price.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tractor-supply-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb

 

[KyCoop]

I've used pine pellets for 3 yrs now. The key is to #1 don't go any deeper then you have now. I fill my run up in the spring and don't add any more until fall. I also do daily scooping and it works out to were I'm just about down to bare dirt by fall so I fill it again to get through winter. #2 take a hard rake , not a leaf rake, or a hoe and turn it over completely every now and then. It should look like a bomb test sight when your done. This will insure there are no funky smells hiding underneath and it helps it dry out if it did get wet. I leave it like that on a nice day and the girls will help you rake it back smooth.