Run question

[Crazyladybulldog]

So it probably dries in summer. Unless it's really wet to the point of dripping when you sift the sand I would not worry about it. Your chickens will enjoy the cool sand when they are dusting themselves. If it's to wet they will get off the ground so provide roosts or stumps to stand on.

Thank you

 

[Crazyladybulldog]

So it probably dries in summer. Unless it's really wet to the point of dripping when you sift the sand I would not worry about it. Your chickens will enjoy the cool sand when they are dusting themselves. If it's to wet they will get off the ground so provide roosts or stumps to stand on.

Thank you

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I'm in the delta of southern arky. We have clay hardpan. I live 4 miles from a river and could get all the free sand I could ever want if it worked. For that matter if it worked every production chicken house around here would be using it instead of rice hulls they use here. Sand isn't good for chicken runs or coops. The poop doesn't break down and it starts to stink and binds the sand together so it won't drain. You can search on here and it's been discussed into the ground over the years. Everybody that tries it ends up abandoning the idea. Normally they argue with us about how great sand drains then a few months into summer they are asking why their coop stinks so badly and/or how to get rid of all the flies.

I ended up getting a wood chipper and making my own chips from downed limbs and tops from trees I cut for firewood. The poop breaks down and I toss it on my garden when I clean out.

I’ll add that some do have success with sand, but they are typically in very, very dry, even desert conditions. Think US Southwest, etc.

For the rest of us, organic (as in plant-derived, not as in organic food) run materials work best: pine straw, shredded bark mulch, pine bark nuggets, dead leaves, dried grass clippings (all these mixed together), rice hulls, hemp, and so forth. Sand and pea gravel are inorganic (never living.)

Chickens were originally jungle - meaning forest - animals. These organic materials replicate the forest floor.