Sand for Bedding questions

[jdoane]

My 2 cents GO TEAM SAND!

I live in a warmer climate.

I use bags of washed play sand in our coop. No wire mesh, no straw. The timber is sealed and painted, then clean sand over the top.

I use a converted milk jug with holes drilled in the bottom as a sift to clear the droppings. Start out about an inch deep and when it gets thin I either top it up with about half a bag or spread it on the run floor and replace it with new.

We also use washed river sand in the run as it get really muddy with the natural soil/clay in winter.

I was put off using DE, so we don't use any. No respiratory problems to speak of (from either sort of sand.)

River sand.


Play sand under roosts/perches




We sue this type of stuff in the nest boxes at the moment, it's for horse stalls (not sweet pdz) Also milk jug scoop (my droppings one has holes in the base so it's a big sift.)

Love the idea of the milk jug pooper scooper!!! How big holes did you make?

 

[kkowa]

this is are first time with the sand and its great!!!! it should be fine in the winter because they will still be able to dust bath in it we sprinkle 7 dust in ours

 

[chynasparks]

I think I may have mismanaged the sand in my coop. We've had a week or so of rain, to intermittent rain. Everything seemed fine it jus stayed damp. Not muddy, just damp. I've gone in and scooped regularly since the start. I've mixed in sweet PDZ and some DE. I've had no odor. But since the rainy days we've had, the sand has stayed moist, my 4 peeps have it compacted down, and me too, walking inside the coop. Today, since we're back to hot and sunny days, I went in with a shovel and turned the sand. Arrg it stunk! I feel so bad, what have I done wrong. I quickly added a bag of PDZ and 1/2 bag of sand I had on hand. Doers anyone think the sand will dry up and be ok or should I start over? It's been in since the end of July. It's covering a concrete floor. The run is 4x8. They can't free range. The sand in the poop board doesn't smell like the run. It doesn't get rained on and I scoop regularly.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Love the idea of the milk jug pooper scooper!!! How big holes did you make?

I can't remember exactly, about 1/8th I think. Depends how big your chickens are I guess.

We had very small pullets, so the poop was very small. The first scoop had tiny holes in it, that took longer to sift the sand. Now those pullets are bigger, their poop is bigger. Could probably make another scoop with bigger holes now to sift it a bit quicker.

 

[TheGeekySheep]

I don't know if this has been brought up before but a stall fork (you can find it with the equine/horse supplies) with a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth (1/2" cloth is no good, the holes are too big) zip tied to it makes an awesome sand scooper. I made an enormous one and I can scoop my 6x6 coop weekly in under 5 minutes. Just make sure to zip tie the front really well or the sand will bend the hardware cloth up when you push it.

 

[c2chicks]

I think I may have mismanaged the sand in my coop. We've had a week or so of rain, to intermittent rain. Everything seemed fine it jus stayed damp. Not muddy, just damp. I've gone in and scooped regularly since the start. I've mixed in sweet PDZ and some DE. I've had no odor. But since the rainy days we've had, the sand has stayed moist, my 4 peeps have it compacted down, and me too, walking inside the coop. Today, since we're back to hot and sunny days, I went in with a shovel and turned the sand. Arrg it stunk! I feel so bad, what have I done wrong. I quickly added a bag of PDZ and 1/2 bag of sand I had on hand. Doers anyone think the sand will dry up and be ok or should I start over? It's been in since the end of July. It's covering a concrete floor. The run is 4x8. They can't free range. The sand in the poop board doesn't smell like the run. It doesn't get rained on and I scoop regularly.

The sand will quickly dry and the smell will disappear! The additional PDZ was a good thing.

 

[TheGeekySheep]

I think I may have mismanaged the sand in my coop. We've had a week or so of rain, to intermittent rain. Everything seemed fine it jus stayed damp. Not muddy, just damp. I've gone in and scooped regularly since the start. I've mixed in sweet PDZ and some DE. I've had no odor. But since the rainy days we've had, the sand has stayed moist, my 4 peeps have it compacted down, and me too, walking inside the coop. Today, since we're back to hot and sunny days, I went in with a shovel and turned the sand. Arrg it stunk! I feel so bad, what have I done wrong. I quickly added a bag of PDZ and 1/2 bag of sand I had on hand. Doers anyone think the sand will dry up and be ok or should I start over? It's been in since the end of July. It's covering a concrete floor. The run is 4x8. They can't free range. The sand in the poop board doesn't smell like the run. It doesn't get rained on and I scoop regularly.

I had this exact same scenario earlier this summer when we had weeks of what seemed like never-ending rain. My coop has a concrete floor as well, and the water got high enough outside to trickle in and get the sand damp. It took two full days of no rain for the sand to dry out completely and it definitely smelled until it did.

 

[chynasparks]

Thanks for your reply. Makes me feel better. I was so disheartened when I turned the sand and got stink-a-fied. My biggest concern (besides peep health) is sending a stinky odor over to our city hall. I live right behind it. That would be embarrassing for sure. I think I need to turn it more often, keep it loose so it will dry quicker. Sand has still been the best choice for me, I've been singing its praises all over this forum. I just need to manage it better. It's a learning curve. One good thing out of it all, it's finally gotten hubby on the move to make the cattle panel movable run. They need to get out and while they are I can turn the sand. They can't free range, as I mentioned before.

 

[Kazfam]

Sand is working for us. Very easy to keep clean. Ours never gets wet...it's only inside the sheltered coop.
Only tool we use is a large cat litter scoop and a bucket to toss the poop in.

No complaints yet.

 

[chynasparks]

Well, you were right the coop smells better. The sand has dried out some and no odor. But the best thing is, we completed the cattle panel run. The peeps got out and in the grass for a while. I plan to add to the length to make sure they have lots of room.