Sand bedding retaining moisture - help.

[Diamondopalmom]

We have a small set up for 4 chickens. This is our first winter with them. Raised coop and it secures at night. Ventilation goes up through the roof slats as the roof simply sits on top so air flows up. We had pine shavings on the floor of the coop but suspected one was eating them and getting an impacted crop so shifted to sand in October. With the cold wet season upon us, the sand inside stays damp. It’s mainly damp under where they poop so suspecting it’s from the moisture in their poop. How do I keep it dry? I don’t want them to have an issues with being in there all night with the excess moisture.

 

[WallyG74]

Maybe use more sand? I would think that sand needs to be cleaned regularly like cat litter. Was the pine shaving eater still quite young? They will typically outgrow that habit as they get older and learn some hard lessons. I had one that finally got the idea after some painful poop sessions.

 

[Diamondopalmom]

Maybe use more sand? I would think that sand needs to be cleaned regularly like cat litter. Was the pine shaving eater still quite young? They will typically outgrow that habit as they get older and learn some hard lessons. I had one that finally got the idea after some painful poop sessions.

Pine shaving eater was about 7 months old. The sand is only about 1-1.5inches deep. It is scooped every couple of days to a week. Would scooping more frequently help the sand dry?

 

[WallyG74]

Pine shaving eater was about 7 months old. The sand is only about 1-1.5inches deep. It is scooped every couple of days to a week. Would scooping more frequently help the sand dry?

Yes it would, but also if you can make it deeper would also help.

 

[aart]

Ventilation goes up through the roof slats as the roof simply sits on top so air flows up.

Yeah, that's not near enough ventilation.
Sand will not dry well in a humid climate.
I'd go back to the shavings.

Is the coop portion longer than the nests?

Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[3KillerBs]

Pine shaving eater was about 7 months old. The sand is only about 1-1.5inches deep. It is scooped every couple of days to a week. Would scooping more frequently help the sand dry?

One of the reasons I don't use sand is that it really ought to be scooped daily.

Whatever bedding you use needs to be deep enough to be able to dry the poop out quickly and you need plenty of ventilation to keep it dry.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

 

[BecksNesting]

I just posted the cure for the moisture in your coop. We actually did experiments with sand and other concepts when our chickens were little. After experiencing odor, tiny flies, etc, and packed sand we opted for the no guts no glory .... fine hemp mixed with potting soil.

No odor, no flies etc., no packing, soft landing for chickens. I just use a small telescoping rake to stir "stuff" around every few days and its GREAT! And that's inside a 6'x10' coop with a plastic floor on top of decking etc. The soil absorbs, and the fine hemp takes care of the rest. There isn't any "packing" occurring! And that's with one rooster and 10 hens.

 

[aart]

I just posted the cure for the moisture in your coop. We actually did experiments with sand and other concepts when our chickens were little. After experiencing odor, tiny flies, etc, and packed sand we opted for the no guts no glory .... fine hemp mixed with potting soil.

No odor, no flies etc., no packing, soft landing for chickens. I just use a small telescoping rake to stir "stuff" around every few days and its GREAT! And that's inside a 6'x10' coop with a plastic floor on top of decking etc. The soil absorbs, and the fine hemp takes care of the rest. There isn't any "packing" occurring! And that's with one rooster and 10 hens.

How long have you used this mixture?
How often do you have to renew it?

Oh, and......Welcome to BYC! @BecksNesting
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[BecksNesting]

I mixed a BIG bag of potting soil from Sam's with only one bag of fine hemp. That's it! I have no condensation build up at all. From what I'm seeing I shouldn't need to replace the entire mixture maybe once a year, twice a year at most.

I just thought about it, its going to become part of my garden probably in the spring, so I will use all or half of that and just add half a large bag of potting soil and HALF a bag of the fine hemp. Potting soil absorbs water rapidly and dries out fast, so does the hemp. So, it was like hey .... it sounds eggs....actly what I need to do. I've not read where anyone has tried it before.

Being in Mississippi, well let's just say it rains a lot. Like our lake come up 2 VERTICAL FEET in one week! A few days ago, we were 7 degrees, so we have definite temperature challenges at times.

Oh, when it comes to the chicken run, we also TARP the entire thing to lessen the weather changes. Right now we are doing the deep litter method in the chicken run with pine shavings, but I will probably change that to the coop's method (fine hemp and potting soil) after I clean it out in the spring. It's going to be pricey but SO WORTH IT!

 

[Shadrach]

Hopefully your chickens sleep on roost bars
Niether you, or your chickens need bedding on the coop floor. You do need bedding of some sort in the nest boxes. Some of that is likely to get thrown out of the nest boxes by the chickens anyway.
High humidity in cooler climatic conditions often makes bedding damp, even with well thought out ventilation.
A clean bare floor with a peck proof insulation mat that one can completely remove from the coop makes life easier. For most coops one finds a mat in two halves works best.
Daily cleaning is easy with a paint scraper and bucket. Once a week the mats can be removed and washed with disinfectant.

3KillerBs article linked to in a couple of posts back gives an excellent explanation on effective ventilation which might give you some idea on how you could improve the ventilation in your coop.
Where I am in the UK is pretty wet, high humidity, low temperature, windy and rainy. I've had various types of bedding on the floor due to the overcrowding forcing some to sleep on the floor and most days it's dampish.
I clean daily in the current circumstances and a bare floor makes the job just as easy and a lot smaller volume of waste bedding to dispose off.
It might be worth a try.