Sand vs. Deep litter. Let's solve this

[darkmatter]

Been using the Deep litter composting pit method for years. See my BYC page for pics of my setup, the coop was designed and built for the compost pit technique that is centuries old. I only need to clean it out once a year for the "brown gold" fertilizer to the garden.

 

[ninabeast]

To answer "what kind of sand?"...I went to a stone/masonry place, where they had literally DOZENS of types of sand. I explained what I was looking for, sand as a litter, as well as for grit, and not wanting too much dust, and they recommended "all-purpose" sand. The size of the grains is everything from play sand to 1/4" pebbles, and it has worked very well.

Having said that, I live in Upstate New York, and while the sand was an excellent choice for the warm weather (it keeps very cool), it seemed a poor choice for winter for the same reason. So, I have put shavings on top for their feeties throughout the winter. In spring, I will shovel it all out (there is only an inch or two of sand left, as much of it gets picked up with the poop and removed from the coop), clean, and put down 22 more bags of sand (my floor space is about 8' x 9').

This is my first year with Chickens, but I think that will be my yearly routine.

 

[1muttsfan]

Quote:
x2. Sand must be cleaned regularly our it gets disgusting.
I also like the way the shavings break down into really beautiful mulch right in the coop. No smell either unless you let it get too moist.

 

[bairo]

I have always used shavings, but did a horrendous amount of research on sand. I believe sand is nearly perfect if you spend 15 minutes every day scooping it, EXCEPT that is a super conductor of cold. I ultimately stuck with shavings. 2 inches in warm weather and 6 inches in the winter.
November I clean it really good and go to the 6 inches. This last until March when I go back to the 2 inches. I then replace that 2 inches every 8 weeks until the next November.
My 10 x 20 shed conversion in summer gets 1 bag of cedar on bottom and 4 bags of pine on top then sprinkled with sevin dust on top of that. I have never once had mites or any other critters, nor a problem with cedar (I would not do all cedar of course)
In the winter it is all pine and I probably use 12 bags (compressed large flake from tractor supply)

 

[bairo]

ps..I dont use anything in the run because mine is big enough not to become a mud hole from chicken scratching. I am however going to build another run this spring so I can rotate the chickens every month to recover the runs anyway. I plant 2 different kinds of clover and wheat forage.

You said 12-15 chickens, so if your run is not 700 sq.ft or better; it will not hold up to the chickens foraging and may become a dirt or mud lot. You can easily get away with 300 sq/ft run and they will be happy....but you should cover it in sand if you do that. So if your doing the math, yes I believe that chickens need at least 20 sq./ft of run space per bird and 50 per bird if you want the run to stay green.

 

[Dirtyhip]

Deep litter here. Combo of straw, pine shavings, DE, and sweet pdz. They are going on three months on that bedding. I plan on replacing quarterly. No smell yet. Just smells like straw. The bedding is one bag and straw in the layers. They have spilled enough food that they have scratch in this load of shavings.

They have a litter box in the coop, and I plan to install a large outdoor sand box soon. Sand just seemed too cold for our climate for our coop.

 

[Tracydr]

Here's what I do because I need my poop for the garden and need it far more often than deep litter allows. I bed with alfalfa and free pine needles. The alfalfa gives them lots of protein and calcium, they mainly just eat the leaves, the stems get stirred in and broken down, great for the garden, the best.
The pine needles are all over my yard and need to be raked. I throw them in the coop and run. They are great mulch and compost up for a great addition to my garden to lighten my soil and lower the high pH.
I clean my coop about every month or two, then lightly sprinkle the stuff on my garden, or make a tea out of some of it to water on the gardens or, if I don't need it right away or it seems to have too much fresh poo, I'll pile it in a big tote, add a bit of water and let it compost for another month or so.
I really need to get some worms to throw in the tote. I used to have some but they died during our hot summer. They make the most wonderful compost you've ever seen, the red wiggler compost worms.
Anyway, can't call it deep litter but it works for me. I add the hay, one or two flakes weekly. The pine needles whenever I feel like it, big wheelbarrows at a time. I sprinkle food grade DE all over. If you don't believe DE works, I once had an ant explosion from a leftover piece of apple pie that I should have put outside instead of in the coop. I added extra DE and the ants were gone in twenty four hours!

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
This is one of my biggest complaints about sand. That and the cost. I get free pine straw in the yard, my alfalfa is the scraps raked up that I don't feed the horses.

 

[bairo]

Quote:
You never have a problem with mold or any thing else in the straw? I had thought about some straw to make it a little cheaper (especially in winter) but was afraid that it might hold moisture too long.

 

[cmom]

I use the litter in my coops too.