Sand in brooder? Pine causing sneezing

[TamiP]

Better than flake does. The sand can muck up, but it tends to drop off after a bit, you still need to spot clean, but it's easier in my opinion.

Thank you! They will be losing the heat very soon and sand is so much easier with my quail I was hoping it would work for chickens.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Does this help keep the poo off their feet? I have 4 Silkies that I hatched and are now 2 weeks old and am thinking of putting them on just this type of sand.

YES!!! I have sand in the run and in the coop, so, even if I haven’t scooped poop yet that day, by the time the girls meander from the run into the nestboxes, their feet are clean and dry.

In regard to using sand in the brooder, I use a flat panel heat plate -not a heat lamp. The heat plate does fine in the sand. It doesn’t get too hot. I have the heat plate that can be lower in the back (adjustable legs), and so during their first week or two, I keep the back lower than the front. That way, they can move to the front if they get too hot.

I think it’s certainly worth a try with your Silkies. I have lots of feathery feet in my coop and they stay pretty clean. My two light Brahmas don’t have bright white feet, but that’s because they love, love, love to dig through the garden and in the woods!

 

[TamiP]

YES!!! I have sand in the run and in the coop, so, even if I haven’t scooped poop yet that day, by the time the girls meander from the run into the nestboxes, their feet are clean and dry.

In regard to using sand in the brooder, I use a flat panel heat plate -not a heat lamp. The heat plate does fine in the sand. It doesn’t get too hot. I have the heat plate that can be lower in the back (adjustable legs), and so during their first week or two, I keep the back lower than the front. That way, they can move to the front if they get too hot.

I think it’s certainly worth a try with your Silkies. I have lots of feathery feet in my coop and they stay pretty clean. My two light Brahmas don’t have bright white feet, but that’s because they love, love, love to dig through the garden and in the woods!

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Thank you SO much! Poopy feet and stink were my 2 biggest reasons for wanting sand. Your run is beautiful!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Thank you SO much! Poopy feet and stink were my 2 biggest reasons for wanting sand. Your run is beautiful!

Thank you! I need another 14 tons of sand this Spring. I’m taking down the 2” by 4” fencing and replacing it with .5” hardware cloth, so we will be getting another load of sand. While the fencing is down, hubs can use the tractor to dump buckets of sand right in the run. Cuts waaaaaaay down on our having to do the backbreaking labor or moving the sand in the wheelbarrow. Everything in the run is easy to remove (even the loft), so we will just take one section at a time.

When we built the run, hubby dug down about eight to ten inches into the clay. It gives us a really nice base for sand. And no stink!