Sand...lots of it in chicken run?

[hensonly]

My run has a floor of regular dirt, and the girls like to dustbathe in a corner - they nearly dug through, like pat says, so I got some old bricks I had around and put a line of them around inside the run, right up against the fence. It didn't stop them digging, but when the bricks tipped from being dug under, I knew to repair it. Kind of an early warning system!

This winter, trying to eliminate boredom, I threw some shavings in the run, and they buried the bricks completely - but they're not digging out through frozen ground and two feet of snow with a crust on top that holds up my 55 pound dog! I'll have to watch out in the spring, though.

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

We had to put sown sand because we had 40 days and 40 nights ( or at least that's what it felt like) of rain, and the coop, run, eggs, everything was muddy! and Horribly stinky!! It was gross! So we put it down, and now everything is MUCH better.....

 

[rizq]

I have been thinking about sand for that exact reason! I have been spending a small fortune on straw trying to keep all the critters out of the mud. I probably could have bought quite a bit of sand for what I spent on straw!

 

[Patch's Chickens]

We have used sand for the past year and it was based on a recommendation I read here. It is mostly fabulous, except it is expensive (we buy it at OSH usually). Right now we have had so much rain it is difficult to rake but usually a breeze. It does really well at controlling odor and we've never had any kind of mite problem. (our current problem would be rats....) I'd definitely recommend it though.

 

[sheep]

Patch's Chickens :

We have used sand for the past year and it was based on a recommendation I read here. It is mostly fabulous, except it is expensive (we buy it at OSH usually). Right now we have had so much rain it is difficult to rake but usually a breeze. It does really well at controlling odor and we've never had any kind of mite problem. (our current problem would be rats....) I'd definitely recommend it though.

Our whole property is sand.

 

[BB3]

I bought a book on showing bantams, and they recomended it for the kinds with feathered legs.