Sand for covering run... should it be coarse or fine??

[rhaj]

We are going to cover the ground of their run with a truckload of sand... question is, they have 2 kinds... fine beach sand and coarser screened sand.

I would think (just me guessing) that fine sand would be good for dust baths, and coarser sand would be good because they can use it as grit. Can they take dust baths in the coarser sand?? If so, that would be dual purpose.

So what do I get???

 

[gryeyes]

I use coarse sand for grit AND for filling cat litter pans half way up for the chickens' dust baths under cover (for the rainy season). The rest I dump into their favorite spot for sunbathing, and they use it just fine. Dual purpose, exactly!

 

[elmo]

Coarse, without any question. The fine sand can clump and harden when it gets wet. My husband accidentally bought a bag of the wrong kind, too fine, and when I left the bag out in the rain it turned into a cement block!