NY chicken lover!!!!

[Lynzi777]

You guys wouldn't get sandbox sand for $5.99/50lb bags?? They sell it at ToysRUs if ya have one near you.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Good Morning!
Been a very busy summer...ugh lots going on and a few bumble foot issues keeping me busy...grrr
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone uses sand in their coops? I have a large coop so I'm thinking of just using sand under the roosts for the winter so it's easier to scoop out daily to keep some of the moisture out of the coop. If you do use sand where do you get it? I could get it at home depot I'm sure but the cheaper the better.

I use sand in my coop. For the most part, I love it.

My suggestions...

1) I obtain my sand from our local gravel yard. They sell sand...lol. I *hear* that river sand is best, but I couldn't find any. I guess its a bit coarser and easier to scoop.

2) Yes, sand drains better...however...make sure you set it up well. If I was to redo my coop, I'd have put a drain in, added a layer of gravel, and then quite a bit of sand on top.

3) This past winter, our coop are was VERY wet. So wet, that the sand throughout the coop became soaked. And then it froze...and boy wasn't that just so much fun to scoop Heavy, wet, frozen sand. Not fun. Hence...make sure yours is drained well.

4) On the flip side...for most of last winter, I found poop scooping to be easier because the turds just rolled along the sand instead of getting caught up.

5) We fashioned a large pooper scooper. Hubby ziptied some fine chicken wire in several layers to a four-pronged farm fork. I have no idea what its really called...but anyways. I use a metal rake to scoop the turds into a pile and the scooper to scoop...sift, and then toss the turds. I still use the poop for compost. Hubby has a pile of it somewhere on our property. (I'm not sure if we actually CAN use the poop...but I don't see why not. Its one of many farming things I need to check on with the neighbor).

**My only complaint with the scooper he made is that I wish it had sides like a horse pooper scooper has.

6) I don't have to change the sand but twice a year, if that. If I let hubby do the scooping, I have to add more sand when he's done (because he just scoops shovelfuls without sifting the sand out).
7) Sand makes for a nice landing surface for eggs that are accidentally laid while my hens are still on their roost bars. I have a 50/50 chance of the egg still being intact, which is nice!

8) Another downside is for feather-footed birds. Sand +feather feet=messy. But its really not a big deal. The birds otherwise LOVE it. On hot days, they lay on the floor of the coop, throwing cool sand all over themselves.

9) On that note...I've heard mixed comments about whether sand in a coop makes the coop colder in the winter. In the summer, the sand is definitely a cooling factor. But I've heard that the sand insulates the coop floor pretty well in the winter. To me, it would seem as though the floor of the coop would be colder with sand, than it would with shavings. But I'm not sure on that.


Overall, I'm pleased with our decision to use sand. It was fine when we had 4 birds overwintering in there, and its been fine with the 20+ birds we have in there now (though it DEFINITELY needs to be scooped more often with more birds...but that's a given).

HTH!!!

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Good Morning!
Been a very busy summer...ugh lots going on and a few bumble foot issues keeping me busy...grrr
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone uses sand in their coops? I have a large coop so I'm thinking of just using sand under the roosts for the winter so it's easier to scoop out daily to keep some of the moisture out of the coop. If you do use sand where do you get it? I could get it at home depot I'm sure but the cheaper the better.

I use sand in my coop. For the most part, I love it.

My suggestions...

1) I obtain my sand from our local gravel yard. They sell sand...lol. I *hear* that river sand is best, but I couldn't find any. I guess its a bit coarser and easier to scoop.

2) Yes, sand drains better...however...make sure you set it up well. If I was to redo my coop, I'd have put a drain in, added a layer of gravel, and then quite a bit of sand on top.

3) This past winter, our coop are was VERY wet. So wet, that the sand throughout the coop became soaked. And then it froze...and boy wasn't that just so much fun to scoop Heavy, wet, frozen sand. Not fun. Hence...make sure yours is drained well.

4) On the flip side...for most of last winter, I found poop scooping to be easier because the turds just rolled along the sand instead of getting caught up.

5) We fashioned a large pooper scooper. Hubby ziptied some fine chicken wire in several layers to a four-pronged farm fork. I have no idea what its really called...but anyways. I use a metal rake to scoop the turds into a pile and the scooper to scoop...sift, and then toss the turds. I still use the poop for compost. Hubby has a pile of it somewhere on our property. (I'm not sure if we actually CAN use the poop...but I don't see why not. Its one of many farming things I need to check on with the neighbor).

**My only complaint with the scooper he made is that I wish it had sides like a horse pooper scooper has.

6) I don't have to change the sand but twice a year, if that. If I let hubby do the scooping, I have to add more sand when he's done (because he just scoops shovelfuls without sifting the sand out).
7) Sand makes for a nice landing surface for eggs that are accidentally laid while my hens are still on their roost bars. I have a 50/50 chance of the egg still being intact, which is nice!

8) Another downside is for feather-footed birds. Sand +feather feet=messy. But its really not a big deal. The birds otherwise LOVE it. On hot days, they lay on the floor of the coop, throwing cool sand all over themselves.

9) On that note...I've heard mixed comments about whether sand in a coop makes the coop colder in the winter. In the summer, the sand is definitely a cooling factor. But I've heard that the sand insulates the coop floor pretty well in the winter. To me, it would seem as though the floor of the coop would be colder with sand, than it would with shavings. But I'm not sure on that.


Overall, I'm pleased with our decision to use sand. It was fine when we had 4 birds overwintering in there, and its been fine with the 20+ birds we have in there now (though it DEFINITELY needs to be scooped more often with more birds...but that's a given).

HTH!!!

 

[Lynzi777]

Maybe I'll do sand next summer and stick to shavings this winter since I don't have a way to make good drainage. My coop is heavy enough as it is, I don't need to make it any heavier. The silkies and sizzles would love dust bathing in the sand tho!

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Its a roo. He has reddish feathers on the wings. Sure sign of a boy. He looks like he is supposed to be a silver partridge but with the red on wings he is not correct. Hens with this color don't have red feathers.

OK,

I went out and took a good look at this bird and the other silkie that looks just like this one...lol. They both have that coloring on their wings. This particular bird has a lot more of it. Its more of a brownish bay. The other silkie has just a tinge or two.

Does the presence of this color mean anything given that they are likely mixed colorings? Or does the presence of the color still definitely indicate that these birds are roos?

SOMEbody in that coop has to be a hen...because somebody in that coop is making a nest in the nest boxes. The tiny silver sebright I have in there is definitely a hen, but she seems to be too small to be making the nest that's been made.

So now I'm confused...lol.

 

[marquisella]

Thanks Rancher!
I've been using shavings with DE the past 2 winters and I find the poo just freezes and gets really hard to scoop and my chickens do a terrible job of mixing it up so the humidity gets out of control (I do have tons of ventilation but I may need to make some more). So my thought is that over the winter I will use sand (only under the roosts) and just clean it daily or every other day to try and keep it down.

I am going to hang a hydrometer in there and see but I'm pretty sure with two windows and a couple of inches of space around the entire top of the coop that's not the problem.

I'm also going to try moving some of the hens into the other coop to balance out numbers. I hate that I'm already having to worry about winter...

Lynzi I'll let you know!! I'm glad you get to pick up your chickens and have them so close, that's great news!!

I discovered that what they sell as "dry shavings" are not completely dry. My Feed store owner said most are only about 75% dry. So you are putting damp shavings in your coops to start with. There are 100% dry shavings available. They come in small shavings, and I thought I wouldn't like them, but I love them. The chickens don't eat them. The floors stay much dryer. And its less dusty because they are that dry. They come in a bright neon yellow bag, and cost the same as normal shavings. If I remember, I'll look up the name when I go out tomorrow. I'm not a fan of sand. If your area is humid or damp, the sand will not dry out well.

 

[rancher hicks]

You guys wouldn't get sandbox sand for $5.99/50lb bags?? They sell it at ToysRUs if ya have one near you.

Lowes and HD have it cheaper than that. Even TSC is cheaper. Lowes as I've said has it for 4/$10. I'd just stock up if I was going to use it. However a truck load might be worth if you use a lot of it.

 

[Lapeerian]

You guys wouldn't get sandbox sand for $5.99/50lb bags?? They sell it at ToysRUs if ya have one near you.

I can't remember where, but think sandbox sand is discouraged because it is so fine? The stuff near the cement section in the tube bags is coarser grit, or the stuff from a gravel pit. Because of course chickens will eat it.

 

[Glasshen]

I tried sand under the roosts when I had a ladder system of roosts. Didn't like it, wet, heavy, smelly...made poop boards with sand and Sweet PDZ, love that. In the winter I put shavings on the floor for deep litter, love that in combo with the poop boards. Light, soft, warmer, and compost in the making.

 

[AQHAchick22]

Sand. Been there, done that. It was WONDERFUL while I had 6 birds. Not so wonderful at 12 birds and totally unreasonable at 20 birds.

A downside of sand is it doesn't make the wonderful compost that wood shavings make. A second downside is all the scooping. Seriously, my back would ache and ache and ache stooping to scoop. I finally taped a kitty litter scoop to the end of a broken rake handle....that worked til the tape got loose.... And it still stinks....the sand got wet and didn't dry out until spring so the ammonia still smelled in the winter.

I finally got rid of the sand. I built my coop with sand in mind and now I am using shavings. Not ideal, but works.

I bought my sand near the cement in Lowes. not cheap, but since you are scooping it, it doesn't need to be replaced as much as shavings. (However 40 pounds of sand is VERY VERY heavy, so consider the distance to your coop before switching from bales of shavings you can literally roll over to the coop if you can't carry them that far. Sand HAS to be carted in some way, if you buy it in bags)

Hmmm thanks now I'm thinking of staying away from sand haha with just under 20 birds in my one coop that does seem unreasonable, plus it's a big coop so I would need many bags of it in order to fill the one side. I just hate dealing with the shavings that freeze in the winter and become impossible to mix up unless we have a few mild days...I was thinking sand mixed with some DE or Sweet PDZ would be a good alternative but realistically it might just make for more work since I would have to scoop every morning and most likely every night.