Mold Growing in Sand

[ColoradoChicken89]

It seems like in the run, underneath/near their food/water buckets, we are having issues with mold growing. I'm certain it's the feed, as they scratch and dig it deeper into the sand (or we clean the run and the feed mixes in). The bottom inch of our sand seems to be staying damp, as it's been extra humid and rainy all summer, so it makes the perfect environment for mold. It kinda comes up nearer the surface directly under the blocks that we put the feed/water buckets on.

I've tried a few different feeders now, but it seems like within the week they can outsmart it and find a way to make a huge mess with their crumble. I'm wanting ot switch them to pellets after this bag.

I emptied the buckets and washed them good in a mild bleach solution, and dried them fully before I refilled them. I took out as much of the effected sand as I could and replaced it with clean sand. I then bought a big bag of barn lime and a bag of diatomatious earth, to mix into the sand to help hopefully fix the mositure issues... I also got some garden specific blocks that are more porus so they can hopefully allow the top layer underneath the actual buckets to dry better.

Though, tbh, I'm not really sure what more to do...

The ground is naturally angled towards a river 100' away, so water isn't pooling. It's just the soil below the sand has a lot of clay in it, that is seeming to trap moisture that evaporates and gets stuck in the sand to just condensate back down. I also just covered the grass that was there up with the sand, and not sure that dying off underneath isn't causing part of the issues...

I have thought about adding another 6" of sand or so, just to see if I can put more of a buffer between the ground itself and the sand, but not sure if that would just make it worse?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I used First Saturday Lime with good results for this. My soil is clay-rich but I’m sure it would work mixed into sand just as well. Sounds like you already tried that but FSL is safe for them to dig in.

 

[thecatumbrella]

That's kind of nuts. We use First Saturday Lime, just like @BlindLemonChicken, but I would also focus on stopping feed waste. The best feeder I've found so far is the 9lb tower feeder from Premier 1. The smaller version can be beaked, but my girls can't defeat this one.

 

[ColoradoChicken89]

I used First Saturday Lime with good results for this. My soil is clay-rich but I’m sure it would work mixed into sand just as well. Sounds like you already tried that but FSL is safe for them to dig in.

Ok, yeah I might try that if this doesn't work. I've been looking at it, but just didn't have enough to get all that I would need today. The lime I got is pure calcium carbonate and the diatomatious earth is food grade, so I'm hoping it will be safe since I mixed it in pretty thick near the bottom, and they do dust bathe kinda wherever...

Though, I don't want to mix the citrius acid, and do it wrong.. so if this doesn't work I think i'll switch to FSL.

That's kind of nuts. We use First Saturday Lime, just like @BlindLemonChicken, but I would also focus on stopping feed waste. The best feeder I've found so far is the 9lb tower feeder from Premier 1. The smaller version can be beaked, but my girls can't defeat this one.

Yeah when I first found it, I was completely shocked! It clean the run every other week, and it wasn't there last week, though it was damp near hte bottom. So it is like the last cleaning, too much of the crumble must of made it too deep... I guess? Probably should have started with some FSL or calcium carbonate to start.

I'll see if I can get osmething like that tower feeder tomorrow. I've been using a 5 gallonbucket with those "no waste" drill parts, but the girls have just learned how to use their neck and beak as shovels to dump it out. I'm hoping pellets will be harder if I can't get the towers.