Sand bedding retaining moisture - help.

[FC16]

I'm a deep litter fan myself, but it seems that most of the people here who have success with sand over the long term live in dry climates.

Yeah I think it is definitely more suitable for people in drier climates. In the winter deep litter does work very well, haven’t had to clean it in ages just keep adding every so often

 

[OneMoreChicken]

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!

Where did you purchasw the fine hemp shavings?

 

[BecksNesting]

Amazon, it works extremely well, especially when mixed with potting soil.

 

[jenembers]

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.

Do you have a link to this hemp bedding? Thank you!

 

[BecksNesting]

Do you have a link to this hemp bedding? Thank you!

Amazon is where I bought mine, its called AubiChick. Oh another reason I like this hemp, we get very clean eggs.

 

[iriedeby]

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.

What is the ratio of hemp to potting soil, Beck?

 

[BecksNesting]

What is the ratio of hemp to potting soil, Beck?

2 of the hemp and one of the potting soil. It is working exceptionally well.

 

[BecksNesting]

What is the ratio of hemp to potting soil, Beck?

Our coop is 6'x8' and we have placed 2 of the 44lb hemp bags with one 50-pound bag of potting soil. It is working exceptionally well.

I was hesitant about the hemp at first, but it is the real deal. AubiChick is the brand we use. Carolina Coops sells it, as well as Amazon.

Be sure you have good ventilation as the warmer and wet weather begins.

Our chicken run is 32' L by 9' W by 6.5" H, we are using pine shavings in it and it has held somewhat well with the winter weather. We cover and uncover it completely to let the sunshine and wind into it. We are going to be adding a second run of that same size soon. Both chicken pop doors (automatic or preset timing) will allow us to vary which run the chickens leave the coop into.

 

[BecksNesting]

Yeah I think it is definitely more suitable for people in drier climates. In the winter deep litter does work very well, haven’t had to clean it in ages just keep adding every so often

I tried the sand method with several chicks to see how it was going to work. I found that I was having to use diatomaceous earth to battle flies, and then the time involved scooping the sand to remove poop etc, was time consuming for just a small confined area.

That's when I researched out the AubiChick hemp. I sure am glad I finally chose to use it when my 10 hens and rooster were finally big enough to be in cooler weather conditions. It literally takes me 5 minutes to fluff and spread the hemp around in the coop. The chickens seem to really like it too, plus it has a very soft landing from their roost poles. Oh... and we used hickory branches for roosting poles and there's nothing sticking to them!

 

[Imataken]

I use hemp bedding in my duck and chicken coops out of everything I've tried its the absolute best. What's even better is the fact it last forever I use a kitty litter scooper sift out just the dirty bedding. 33 pound bag used to be 32.00 is now 36.00 but I'm going on a year with this bag.. no bugs no smell always dry anyone with ducks know they poop really wet poop every 5 minutes. Tractor supply finally sells it now however they are crazy and are charging 70 bucks for same size bag I get for 36