question for those who use sand in their runs/coops

[flossyandprissy]

I'd like to use sand. I know I need a few inches of it. My question is, what's under the sand? Just a dug out area in the ground? A wood base? Concrete? Thanks.

 

[Shanty]

I've used sand in all instances--on concrete, wood, and with dirt as a base. For my runs I always used sand that was placed directly on the existing soil base. No digging out; no disturbing the soil unless it needed some compaction. Then I rolled it.

The key is, however, what the humidity levels are in your area. Now I live in the deserts of Texas at 3500 foot altitude. My sand floors dry out quickly after a rain (we get 3 to 9 inches a year--3 has been our average totals for the past few years), as do the droppings. Sand is ideal for my purposes as my acre is almost pure sand. Look at my avatar photo--that's all sand. If you live in Florida or the humid regions of our country--the deep south or the east--you might NOT want to use sand. Some of my pigeon pens have expanded metal floors over sand. So my chicken pens all have floors of sand.

 

[flossyandprissy]

Thanks! I live in the dry desert, not much rain, but, but snow for 5 months of the year.

 

[bluefrog87]

Your option are endless. All would be fine. It works like cat litter. Better in desert areas.

 

[chfite]

I added 4 inches of sand to the existing soil that had some ground stone added earlier. The chickens will turn everything over with their scratching, so that there will be a good mix. Moreover, the scratching will turn the poop and such into the soil as well to facilitate decomposition and reduce cleaning.

Instead of this low spot being boggy after a heavy rain, the sand made it drain so that there was no standing water.

Chris

 

[skunknchatter]

We get a short but intense mud season here so i put "road base" under my sand. Is sand and gravel and packs down very hard but still drains. This keeps my sand from turning boggy during our spring thaw.