please help... beginner alert! grass or/and sand in my area?

[claire0110]

Hi guys i hate to sound completely dumb founded but i am ...ive been up all night reading up on how to and what to use in their coop and coop run. But when i let them out in the day into the garden (chicken wire fenced area of 10x6metres) its grass!! ...but everyone is saying use sand.... so should i layer it all with sand arghh help! .... i dont have any chickens yet ive got the coop and my chicken fencing is almost finished so no chickens are at risk haha ,
Im going to use the DLM with shavings in their bedding and use straw in the nesting boxes.
i should also mention that i live in manchester, england ...rain and more rain all year really lol xx any help is much appreciated!!

 

[lesgo54]

My pen is 8 x14 feet. I have 3 inches of sand in it. It takes me about 1 minute a day to scoop up and shift it thru a cat litter scoop. In my coop i use a layer of commercial wallcovering, i use to be a paper hanger. I just cut it to fit and remover it daily and clean it. Most days im done with all cleaning in 5 minutes.

 

[claire0110]

Thank you! under the coop is a small run its about 5ftx6ft and im going to fill this area with 3/4 inches of sand..when i let them out into my garden area its grased so wondered if i needed to do the same on my grass...i thought they'd enjoy the grass more than sand x

 

[jmandawn]

Welcome to BYC! You don't have to spread the sand around. You can get a "sandbox" for them to play in. Contained sand is easy to filter with a piece of screen and a bucket. Put the screen over the bucket opening and dumb scoops of sand into it. Sand falls to the bottom - poo goes into compost. Dump sand back into box.

Even if you don't put out sand they will scratch away enough of the grass to give themselves an area to go dusting.

 

[claire0110]

Weve got our chicks now guys 2silverlaced bantams and 4silkies... they 2day old and loving their new home...so far so good! Xx

 

[claire0110]

 

[cafarmgirl]

The grass is fine for them and yes, they will enjoy it very much. So much so that it probably won't last long!

 

[mrchicks]

Congrats on the new babies! Grass is fine, we have a batch of babies that have an outdoor playpen. We move it every few days so they have fresh grass and they love it. Once they are bigger and in a permanent run they will remove every blade of grass faster than it can grow back. The more room you can give them, the better.

 

[claire0110]

Thanks guys they starting off here...and i'll move them when theyre bigger and when winters moving on keeping them cornered and warm for their early days xx