Question about using sand for the floor of the run

[joebryant]

Quote:
Jasminty, you don't want kids' sandbox sand. It would compact too tightly from all that I've seen when it's wet. Also, chickens could not use it for grit. Get the sand with lots of different size grains, fine to large that's used under pavers and patio stones; that way you'll never have to buy them any of the expensive grit. BTW, make it deep, at least six inches.

 

[jasminty]

Great THANK YOU!

Bigger sand grains: better drainage, quicker drying. That makes sense.

I have learned so much this week!!! I can't wait to finish with my upgrades! (gotta do some painting and water proofing this weekend to the coop before we get rain!)

I think sand will make such a BIG difference. I mean who wants poop cakes, really?? LOL!!

 

[Eggsactly]

I am totally new at all this too. I get that when it is dry you haven't had to do anything with the poo because the chickens covered it up in the sand . But when it is wet out and you have to rake it out what do you do with it...Can you still add it to your compost with all the sand stuck to it??? When I worked at a nursery and garden center they said the worst thing you can do is add sand to you garden dirt because you will end up with concrete.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I don't know what to tell you because I occasionally add DE over my sand. It dries the poo and the chickens' scratching for bird seed that I throw in makes it all disappear, rain or no rain. I'm hoping that I never have to do anything besides those two things, add some DE and bird seed over the sand. Someday I might be in for a very rude awakening; until then...

 

[jasminty]

Quote:
I have never heard this, I had always heard a little sand is good for drainage. I live in a farm town gone suburb and we have sandy soil. I have always considered it good growing soil, and figured thats why there's so many farmers here! I kinda thought thats what you wanted for (most) things to grow well. Also in the areas my kids have thrown their playbox sand around it's no problem, no matter how wet it gets. It actually helps keep the ground from getting hard packed.

I think the majority of it it would have to be as fine as powder to make a paste or concrete.

Mind you I am neither a farmer of an expert on anything other than being ridiculous... so.... LOL!!!
But thats just my guess/ .02 about it.

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

I'm using play sand. My girls free range part of the day, and we have plenty of rocks of all sizes, so I don't have to worry about the grit. I clean it with a kids sand box sifter - the coop anyway, and rake the sand in the run.

The only problem I did find is when it gets wet - it takes forever to dry! I'd like to find some coarser sand to mix in. I don't have a truck and no where to keep a big ole pile of sand - so I'm stuck with bags from Home Depot. I tried something called all purpose sand - but it was just as fine as play sand.

 

[LittleHouseDreams]

Thanks for all the suggestions on this thread! All this information has been so helpful. I can't wait to get the coop finished and use all your tips.

Cheers and have a great weekend!

 

[DawnSuiter]

I started this year with sand, this is also my first year with chickens. I use pine bedding in the brooders, but sand in my coop, sand in the runs, sand everywhere. I cannot stress enough that CONCRETE sand is the way to go.

I'm looking at my receipt 1.17 tons for $13.67 it just doesn't get any cheaper. Its fantastic, dries quickly, and the poop is easily raked into a pile to shovel out, or now we're using a large kitty box scooper and we just scoop and go. We use it in the droppings pits, really, just everywhere.

So very little sand gets into our compost pile, but that's what is done, we scoop and then dump it into the compost. This COURSE sand is pointy & sharp, they use it for grit, and it's a great addition to our clay-pitiful-excuse-for-dirt-soil.

We're building an aviary this weekend, an open addition onto the hen house. It will have the same roof as the hen house (tuf tex corrugated plastic roofing), welded wire walls and we will frame in a sand box floor for it. I can't wait, the hens will have access to it 24 hours a day and they will love it.

 

[sianara]

Quote:
I go to a local "sand" company and have about 3 yards delivered to my house. This way, I've got a sand pile there whenever I want to add more to the runs.

 

[hetty]

Hi,
we are thinking of putting sand down in the main run, as we get tons of rain here and even though we dug 2 foot down, put in a drainage(small stones) wire mash and then soil / grass matting it still gets a bit water logged, so we thought about sand. our children play sand is so exspensive.
what type of sand do you use?
we have many types of sand in the uk and we found a soft sand but it turns our fingers yellow would this effect the chickens?