After recent rash of rainy days I really started thinking about adding sand to my chickens run? I have read some things about people using sand in the chicken coop and in the run but I basically was looking for some more advice or information on San is it safe for the chickens and what kind of sand should I look into getting?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/444759/got-sand-you-should You may find the above thread helpful. I wear an N95 mask when I scoop my sand every day with a kitty litter scoop in my coop and nest boxes. It works great and I love it. Sand dust is VERY bad/dangerous to breathe. For the run, you can end up with a hardpan layer if it gets wet a lot, and you may need to add more sand or remove the hardpan. It depends on the individual circumstances as to whether it will work for you. I love adding sand outside around the waterer when it gets muddy, but it washes away and I haven't bothered to do it lately. I recommend doing a small test area with sand and see how it reacts to your weather, and additionally don't add more sand than you would care to shovel back out in a year or so if it ends up hardpanning on you. I buy the washed sand and have it delivered by truck, and keep it covered with a tarp. I used to buy the play sand bags from Home Depot and that worked out great but I wanted cheaper. The mason sand at Home Depot is wet inside the bag but was cheaper than the play sand. The moisture wasn't good in the coop and so I switched to truckload method.
