Sand as Bedding

[Birdsonghill]

We have linoleum under it, because it's cheap and easy to clean.

Ditto about the Vinyl flooring! < 50 cents a sq. ft. new and remnants can be found, large enough, sometimes for even less! The 26 year old small coop I gave away a few years ago still had a good floor, thanks to Vinyl flooring and wheat straw litter.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I once used coffee grounds as bedding and LOVED it. They were light, compostable, scoopable, and smelled great. My coop is too big to save and dry coffee grounds now, but at the time they lasted about eight months before I needed to replace the bedding. It took me 1-3 minutes a day to scoop the poop.

After that experience, I decided sand would just not compare. It's far too heavy, you can't use play sand, it can be dusty depending on the sand you buy, it reportedly stinks when wet, and it isn't compostable.

I've reverted to using pine shavings, and I still scoop any big obvious poops. It breaks down over a few months and I have to clean it all out, but it's compostable and smells nice when it is new.

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

That's really interesting. I've been looking at a few other bedding options too. What would you think needs cleaning least often? Just that because of the size of my playhouse, replacing bedding entirely weekly is going to be a pain in the neck - big time.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I do a little cleaning regularly, but major muck outs only needed twice a year! If I had to clean out and replace all the litter weekly I would raise cows instead! Place your roost over a cleanout area and top up or remove the litter only there, every few weeks. The deep litter method for the rest of the house only requires a bit of fluffing and/or a bit of fresh litter topping added every few weeks! I use mostly clean wheat straw but pine shavings work well and I have tried about everything. Some other litters require more additions or cleanouts to keep the odors down and the moisture levels in check. Do control water spillage from founts, cups, nipples in the coop and it may be necessary to clean out under the water system more often , if you have not carefully set it up and maintained it. I realize some of you have very tiny coops and only a few birds and your priorities may be different from chicken farmers with larger coops and more birds. Bedding /litter should be dry, light, absorbent, cheap, little dust/fines and readily compostable! To many small or fine particles and the chickens may eat a lot of it or develop respiratory ailments. For a tiny coop, pine shavings or commercial cannabis litter may be best to minimize cleanouts and control odor.

 

[3KillerBs]

What would you think needs cleaning least often?

I use coarse flake shavings in my coop. I start with about 2" and add another couple inches every few weeks until it gets to the point where I cannot physically add another layer and either the poop-to-shavings ratio is visibly higher than I want to see it or I detect an odor that isn't solved by adding more shavings usually 6-12 weeks depending on weather and chicken density.

I like this deep bedding method because I don't have to do any daily cleaning, not even weekly cleaning, and because I can schedule the big clean out at my own convenience on a day when the weather is good.

Some people don't like pine shavings because they don't compost as readily as some other materials, but in my hot, humid climate that's not a big problem.

I've tried straw, but didn't think that it lasted as long as shavings before it started to smell.

 

[MissMonty]

We tried sand in the coop here in Ohio and it was a nightmare. We went back to shavings.

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

We tried sand in the coop here in Ohio and it was a nightmare. We went back to shavings.

Thank you for the tip-off! We currently use shavings in our smaller coop, for the hens we keep for our own eggs, but I would have to use a LOT of them to work in a playhouse. Still, we'll see what recommendations are.

Does anyone else have opinions they would like to share? Much appreciated!

 

[rosemarythyme]

How much time do you have to do coop cleaning? Are you willing to scoop poop each day in lieu of doing a full cleanout weekly/monthly, or is that out of the question?

If you're willing to sift daily, I'd recommend chopped hemp. It sifts well since it's finer than shavings and seems to be pretty absorbent. I've been using it a few months so far, under my roosts, and have seen no need to do a full clean it out at all so I plan on just adding more material as needed.

Alternatively, you could skip the daily clean ups and go for full cleanouts whenever the poop load gets to be too much, but the frequency for that varies wildly based on how much space you have, number of birds, ventilation, bedding used, etc. In a small coop, you could be looking at weekly or monthly cleanouts.

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

How much time do you have to do coop cleaning? Are you willing to scoop poop each day in lieu of doing a full cleanout weekly/monthly, or is that out of the question?

If you're willing to sift daily, I'd recommend chopped hemp. It sifts well since it's finer than shavings and seems to be pretty absorbent. I've been using it a few months so far, under my roosts, and have seen no need to do a full clean it out at all so I plan on just adding more material as needed.

Alternatively, you could skip the daily clean ups and go for full cleanouts whenever the poop load gets to be too much, but the frequency for that varies wildly based on how much space you have, number of birds, ventilation, bedding used, etc. In a small coop, you could be looking at weekly or monthly cleanouts.

I could give it half an hour or so each morning before anything else, if that's an indicator. I'll look into it. Obviously as I'm having Silkies, they might not be very into roosting, but we'll see!
Also, would you explain what you mean by sifting? I mean, I'm thinking of the cooking type - sifting flour or something! Am I getting mixed up?

 

[Henrietta 65]

I use natural flake shavings bedding with straw in the nest box and this seems to work well because you can just pick out the worst bits and turn over regularly and just give it a deep clean every month or so