LOVE LOVE LOVE the sand

[GoDawgs]

I went back and forth on what to put inside the coop. Since we had a bunch of sand left over from another project, I decided to give it a try. I LOVE it. I might not use it for a big coop, but it's awesome for my 3 x 3 coop. I have a kitty litter scooper and just scoop out the poop each day to keep it clean smelling. Since the coop is so small, this literally takes about two minutes. I even have the sand in the nesting boxes, and the hens seem to like it just fine.

 

[ninabeast]

Good to hear! I'm leaning toward sand for our new 8' x 9'9" coop, and decision time is looming near...

 

[bantyshanty]

Sand is great, isn't it? I started with sand in my 6' x 8' coop last summer. It was left over from my run. I liked it for about a month, but by the end of the month, even with daily cat-scooping, my sand has an ammonia smell. I finally dumped the sand before our first snow and went with pine shavings for the winter, changed every two weeks.
My sand that retained a smell was mason sand, which is also in my run. I shoveled 3 tons of mason sand out of the run last week and put in 3 tons of course sand with pebbles (whew!).
I also put this in my coop. So far, pretty good at not retaining odors. What kind of sand is yours. Is it mason sand? I think the mason sand had too much clay in it, which absorbed the odors.
I think as long as your weather stays dry, you should be good with sand. Don't use the fine play or silica sand as it can irritate your birds' lungs.

 

[chicmom]

I love sand in my chicken run, but I never thought about using it inside the coop.......

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I switched to sand about three weeks ago and I don't know what took me so long. I second everything you say. Few quick scoops with a kitty litter scoop each morning and toss the black gold into the composter and I'm good to go.

I haven't put it in their nest boxes yet. I might have to consider that. But they don't poop in there so it's not as big of an issue.