Maintenance of run with sand?

[DutchieWannabe]

um yikes, i have never cleaned the poop out of their run... i always toss my grass clippings in there and i have never had it start to smell..... where i live its hot and dry dry dry in the summer, im guessing that is why i havent smelled anything yet... anyone else not clean out the run? am i a bad chicken momma???

 

[joebryant]

Call a sand and gravel company and have washed construction sand (various size grains) delivered or go get it with a pickup truck. It'll cost you a fortune to buy enough by the bag from Lowes.

 

[Lisa202]

Quote:
Construction sand is best.

Why is construction sand better than fine sand? I'm just worried about larger pebbles and the chickens eating them and getting them stuck in the crop.

I don't want to run across "glass" in my sand like another poster had, but now I'm wondering if the "crusting on the sand" might be from using fine sand?

and what is washed sand? Is all construction sand washed? and if it isn't, do I have to hose it down or something?

 

[MaKettle]

I used playground sand that I bought from Lowes & I will NEVER do this again. Admittedly, I made some mistakes...after reading many threads on the topic, I opted for pea gravel under my sand. This was a huge mistake I didn't put enough sand down over the gravel & my chickens quickly kicked the gravel up through the sand, making it a rocky mess & almost impossible to scoop, without getting a bunch of rocks.

What I don't like about the playground sand is that it gets tamped down & becomes hard, like a rock. Eventually it gets to the point where you can't rake it because its so hard & packed.

In the spring, I plan on digging my entire run out & starting over, this time with a coarse, construction grade sand

 

[welasharon]

I was lucky enough to be able to go to the creek for mine.