Sand or Shavings (or something else!) coop bedding!

[3littlechickies]

HI!

What do you use in your coop? Right now my chicks are only five weeks old so they just have pine shavings in their brooder. I hear how some people love sand and others who don't like it that much. Where is sand sold? Is it cheaper then shavings? Sand does seem like it might be easier to clean. Thanks so much!

 

[DaddyBird]

My wife and I researched it and decided to go with shavings in the coop and pine bark nuggets in the run. We have been very happy with it. However, when we get out of the city and get a real coop with a dirt floor, we will probably convert to the deep litter method.

 

[chynasparks]

I am fixing to find out about sand. I'm using sand in the bottom half of out chicken coop/ run. My husband built this great roost caddy with 3 inch sides. I'm putting sand in it and then wood chips surrounding it on the floor. I paid $3.39 for 50 pound bags of play sand and $3.53 for alpurpose sand at home depo. The will pick out time rocks as grit. My structure is on concrete so I put down 5 bags. Better for the legs. My peeps are moving in tomorrow. Yeah! It's 4x8 and 6 foot high. Upper nest area where that roost will be. Quite roomy for my 2 R.I.R.s and 2 Orpingtons. A run will be attached later on.

 

[DaddyBird]

Here is a good blog post on it. I have read lots of mixed info on it so we stayed away.

http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2013/07/the-real-scoop-on-using-sand-in-your.html

 

[Amanda941]

We use shavings inside the house for comfort, warmth, and moisture absorption. It works great. We use sand in the run and the girls just love it. The sun heats it up and they all just lay down and roll all around. It's the
perfect dust bath! You do have to dig out the old sand and replace with new every few weeks though. It can get pretty messy, depending on how many chickens you have.

I think it's best to have a nice mix of substrates. It makes life interesting!

 

[woodsygal]

In the coop, we started with shavings and switched to sand and love it. It's so much easier to clean and smells better. I scoop 2 small coops every other day and it doesn't take long. The only drawback I've found is the shavings absorbed water better on the occasions that rain blows in.
I use shavings in the nesting boxes since the girls like to make their nest. Also use it as well as straw or grass clippings in muddy spots in the chicken yard but they free range a lot so it doesn't get too bad.

 

[chynasparks]

For every opinion on coop/ run management you will find information to the contrary. Use sand, don't use sand use straw don't use straw use DE, don't use DE. Use treated wood, don't use treated wood. I found it to be a daunting task to decide what materials would be best for my situation. People seem to be raising beautiful peeps in a wide variety of materials. I chose sand over the concrete for comfort. Concrete is hard. The attached run we will add will provide them with bugs, they do live bugs

 

[chynasparks]

For every opinion on coop/ run management you will find information to the contrary. Use sand, don't use sand use straw don't use straw use DE, don't use DE. Use treated wood, don't use treated wood. I found it to be a daunting task to decide what materials would be best for my situation. People seem to be raising beautiful peeps in a wide variety of materials. I chose sand over the concrete for comfort. Concrete is hard. The attached run we will add will provide them with bugs, they do live bugs

 

[DaddyBird]

We use the kids old sand box as a dust bath. The girls seem to really like it. I mixed half a bag of DE in with the play sand.