Sand in run

[aart]

I’ve been reading that sand could cause this?

Just about anything can cause an impaction if they gorge on too much of it.

I went to my local sand and gravel company and told them I needed sand for my coop, because I bought bagged, construction sand, and it was way too fine. He knew exactly what I needed, and brought me some. It's perfect! I'll never buy bagged sand again. And it cleans like a dream!

Can you post a pic of the sand, with a quarter for scale?
How big of an area do you have the sand and is it exposed to rain/snow?

 

[Sammster]

Can you post a pic of the sand, with a quarter for scale?
How big of an area do you have the sand and is it exposed to rain/snow?

How's this?

 

[Sammster]

We also have a potty pen for our dogs to do their business in. In that area we use pea gravel. I love it because, A) the poop is "usually" in the potty pen and not on my lawn, and B) clean up is a breeze!

 

[Rick&Chris]

How's this?

View attachment 3419861

This doesn’t look like sand to me, but a little more of what I was expecting to get. How do you clean the poop off?

EDITED to add: this is what I have (construction/concrete sand)

 

[aart]

How's this?

View attachment 3419861

I love scrabble!
S for Sand or ???

Looks wet, so I assume it's exposed to rain/snow?

 

[Sammster]

I love scrabble!
S for Sand or ???

Looks wet, so I assume it's exposed to rain/snow?

I love Scrabble, too! Actually - I'm a glass artist. I used to have a couple of etsy shops. I used the Scrabble pieces in my photos like this:

 

[Sammster]

I love scrabble!
S for Sand or ???

Looks wet, so I assume it's exposed to rain/snow?

Actually, in the coop, it's only wet at the pop-door entrance. I have a pile of left-over sand out in my driveway from the chicken coop load. I took the picture from that pile, so I didn't have to shoo chickens out of the way. That's why it's wet

 

[Sammster]

This doesn’t look like sand to me, but a little more of what I was expecting to get. How do you clean the poop off?

EDITED to add: this is what I have (construction/concrete sand)

I use this:

 

[perkolator]

I think you'll regret it and end up changing to something else, lol. After the years of being interested in chicken-keeping, I still don't get how many people flock toward sand and ask so many questions about it, get into this and that about all the different types of sand, etc.; giving themselves regular poop-scooping chores...and then at some point make complaints about it. Just look back in the forums, it's a regular cycle .

Basically any dry organic material/wood chips/etc is about as easy as it gets when it comes to management, if it's in contact with the ground it mimics an understory environment that a chicken would be foraging naturally to get critters, and in the end you can harvest all the compost material for gardening purposes - I just harvested 5 wheelbarrows from my run last weekend to put under my fruit trees - SO many worms in that beautiful humus!!!

 

[aart]

I still don't get how many people flock toward sand

It's because of all the pretty pictures on certain chicken site and blogs, etc.

and ask so many questions about it, get into this and that about all the different types of sand, etc

Sand is confusing, there's no standard to follow and so many colloquial labels/names that is can be impossible to define.
I used sand in concrete mix for sculptures years ago, and had a hell of a time finding something that would work well, had to go look at the stuff.