Sand in coop ok?

[lovelychicken]

I like the sand so much that I put it in the coop, its so much easier to clean out the poop and it doent smell like pine shavings. I think the ammonia gets smothered by the sand. I was wondering though if it ok to use in coop, it does get a little cold. The chicks are 6-7 weeks and arnt yet using the perches (2X4's) yet so they sleep on the sand at night. Are they smart enough to go up on the perch if they get cold from it? You know what funny is they have me trained now. Each night if the coop is not open (been working on it so they get locked out) they start chirping loudly. This usually happens around eight and they will do this until I let them in. They get real real real loud too.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I have sand in my coop and I love it. I also have sand in all my brooders. It isnt getting cold here at night We are lucky if it gets down to 80. I did go through the past winter with sand in the coop. It did get alittle chilly so we put up heat lamps. I have cochins and they don't roost so they were on the ground. They did fine. If you are worried about them being chilly put a thermometer in there and check the temps. You could always put a heat lamp in the coop in the evening.

 

[lovelychicken]

outside temp at night runs sixty right now, ill put in coop tomarrow night to check the temp of the coop inside.

 

[BJ_BOBBI_JO]

We are considering using sand in our coop as well. It seems like it would be cheaper to keep sand in there then to have to keep buying shavings or hay to use.

Would I just need to kind of rake the sand to clean out the poop several times a week?

About how often would the sand need replaced? Like every year maybe?

To get a truck load of sand isnt very costly compared to having to buy shavings or hay/straw all the time.

The chickens have about killed off and eaten all the grass in their pen so I might put sand in the pen too but would that be to hot for their feet in the summer?

I dont like a dirt floor pen because it seems to stink worse especially after it rains.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Cleaning a sand floor coop is very easy compared to a shavings coop. I usually rake out the feathers and poop. I use a screen to sift the feathers and poop. I put them into a 5 gallon bucket and carry it out to the compost pile. Much easier than wheelbarrows full fo shavings. My coop has been up for over a year and I haven't had to change the sand. There isn't the smell like some coops from the shavings. Living here in Florida I keep my coops clean all the time I don't want the flies and smell. DH has shavings on his coop floor and you can smell it sometimes. My coop is three times as big and takes me less time to clean and theres no smell or flies.

I rake mine out once a week. Sometimes I have to let it go two weeks, but so far no problem.
Livinf here in Florida I have all the sand I need lol Our farm is called Sugar Sand Farm and believe me it lives up to its name. lol

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

I have sand in one of mine and it works just fine. The run in this particular pen kept getting really nasty when it rained, then the slimy mud was getting all in the coop also. I spread some white sand and it has been so much easier to clean. I just rake the poop out about once a week. It has not seemed to harm any of my chickens and I've been using it for about a month. If anything, they are cleaner now and the pen definitely smells better.

 

[BJ_BOBBI_JO]

I lost this thread and forgot to subscribe to it so I did not see yall post until now. I just posted the same above questions on another thread since I couldnt find this one. Sorry about repeating msyelf.

That is good to know about the sand. We are on a limited budget and cant afford to always be buying large amounts of hay or shavings for the coop so to me sand seems to be the way to go. Thanks for the info!