Sand vs Pine Shavings

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I have coops with wood floors, and use pine shavings from one of the feed stores or Tractor Supply. The runs are dirt floors. There are poop boards under the roosts in the coops. Every day the poop boards are cleaned off, and the harvest goes into compost bins, or straight to the field if I am plowing or cultivating that day. And yup, you can use the poop when it's fresh. It's just "country honey".

I regularly shovel out chips from the coop and use it as mulch around the flower beds and on vegetable rows. Nothing goes to waste. I wouldn't want to use sand, it would be just too difficult, and lately, expensive.

I’m dying at the “country honey”.
Thank you for your input!

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Pine shavings in the coop and mulch/wood chips in the run. Super easy to maintain.

I’m lucky enough to be able to free range so the shavings should keep cost pretty low! And pretty maintenance free.

 

[Erin1234]

I know this is a heavily discussed topic.

I’m just having a really hard time figuring out what’s best.

I live in central Arkansas where we have really hot and humid summers and mild winters (except the freak snow storm we had this last winter but apparently that hasn’t happened since the 80s).

Im a stay at home mom with a toddler, scooping the sand in the coop wouldn’t be difficult for me on the daily but keeping her from playing in the sand would.

It’s also about $58/yard and we have a 12x6 coop. Is that pricy? Should we shop around at other quarries? The quarry in our town also doesn’t sell sand. So we already have to drive 30min to get that and the next one is an hour away on the highway…which sounds like a lot of lost sand.

Pine shavings on the other hand get disgusting. I don’t have anywhere to put them once their gross either. I live on a lot of acres but having to tote chips off the general area seems a bit problematic.

The coop is a wooden floor of 2x4s raised around 18 inches off the ground.

Opinions? Suggestions?

I like shavings too, they smell better and I just scoop the poop out with a litter scoop in a bucket.

 

[Erin1234]

I wish I had free sand near by I could see the sifter being better

You can sift the poop out of pine shaving, I do it everyday

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

You can sift the poop out of pine shaving, I do it everyday

That seems like a lot to do when I have a toddler and a 12x6 coop. It’s not as easily sifted as sand.

 

[Tclloyd0812]

I know this is a heavily discussed topic.

I’m just having a really hard time figuring out what’s best.

I live in central Arkansas where we have really hot and humid summers and mild winters (except the freak snow storm we had this last winter but apparently that hasn’t happened since the 80s).

Im a stay at home mom with a toddler, scooping the sand in the coop wouldn’t be difficult for me on the daily but keeping her from playing in the sand would.

It’s also about $58/yard and we have a 12x6 coop. Is that pricy? Should we shop around at other quarries? The quarry in our town also doesn’t sell sand. So we already have to drive 30min to get that and the next one is an hour away on the highway…which sounds like a lot of lost sand.

Pine shavings on the other hand get disgusting. I don’t have anywhere to put them once their gross either. I live on a lot of acres but having to tote chips off the general area seems a bit problematic.

The coop is a wooden floor of 2x4s raised around 18 inches off the ground.

Opinions? Suggestions?

Hello neighbor! I am in North Central Arkansas (specifically Sharp county), we raise a lot of chickens out here and have about 100 currently. That winter storm was crazy, right?!!!

Anyways, as far as bedding out here I can personally relate with you because I'm in a similar area. Let me say, I have tried straw/hay, pine shaving, no bedding, or sand.
-Hay is way too dusty and holds smell HORRIBLY and is hard to clean up.
-Pine shavings are a lot cleaner but also get pricey if you have a lot of birds to clean up after, plus some chickens don't react well to pine.
-Sand is one of the easiest methods that you dont have to mess with but about 2 times a year (before and after summer, after winter) and can upkeep easily with a kitty scooper.
-No bedding/sand is nasty and not fun to have to scrap and spray but most cost efficient if you have a small flock. You also would want to put diatomaceous earth down twice or more a year with this method.

I hope this helps! Good luck fellow Arkansan!!!

 

[Devils Flower]

I live in Arkansas. Izard County. I have always used sand in my chicken coop. I got a half of a trail load from a company that sales soil and sand and gravel a couple of years ago. I only clean the sand a few times a year but I use shavings in my nest box's. I have 15 chickens that includes my 2 roosters.
Oops forgot to add this. I do use the DE food grade every time I put new sand in. My load of sand has lasted years so I'm not sure what unwanted pest might be living in it.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I know this is a heavily discussed topic.

I’m just having a really hard time figuring out what’s best.

I live in central Arkansas where we have really hot and humid summers and mild winters (except the freak snow storm we had this last winter but apparently that hasn’t happened since the 80s).

Im a stay at home mom with a toddler, scooping the sand in the coop wouldn’t be difficult for me on the daily but keeping her from playing in the sand would.

It’s also about $58/yard and we have a 12x6 coop. Is that pricy? Should we shop around at other quarries? The quarry in our town also doesn’t sell sand. So we already have to drive 30min to get that and the next one is an hour away on the highway…which sounds like a lot of lost sand.

Pine shavings on the other hand get disgusting. I don’t have anywhere to put them once their gross either. I live on a lot of acres but having to tote chips off the general area seems a bit problematic.

The coop is a wooden floor of 2x4s raised around 18 inches off the ground.

Opinions? Suggestions?

I have wooden floor coops, too. I tried sand in coop & in run but with high humidity here it didn't work well. I use pine chips. Usually under the night perch is where most poo accumulates, so every morning it's just 15 min of using a litter scooper to clean the poo up. I use 5 gallon buckets dedicated to poo duty & dump them in a compost area behind a barn about a half acre away from coop. It's always windy or breezy here, yet the chips never blow around, which is good as I don't get a chance to till as often as I'd like. It does make the best garden soil! I have sections so I know what is older, ready for gardening.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I'm in Alabama. Winters are rainy here. My coops are 4 x8 with wood floors that house no more than 9 hens and a rooster in each. I use fine pine shavings and deep litter method. Dust monthly with DE. I clean the coops spring and fall. No smell. No flies.

My runs are natural packed dirt. They get raked occasionally. DE also. If they get puddly in the winter I add some bags of builder's sand.

HTH

Rusty

 

[ABakes09]

Pine smells so wonderful, and many people (including me) have used it for years. But there is evidence that it is toxic. Check out the thread, Pine Shaving Toxic to Chickens. Now I use sand and wonder why I didn't start using it 44 years ago with my first chickens!!! It's sooooo much cleaner and easier to keep clean.
I get free river sand from our desert, but even if I bought it, I wouldn't put it all in at once. I keep a thin layer (maybe 2 inches) and add 2-3 shovelfuls each week, and every couple of months I replace it all from the the sandpile behind the barn.
And I would never use a cat scoop, even on my tiny night coop--I tried it once and said, Phooey to this! and built a screen. I rake with a small rake, then use a dustpan to pour it onto my screen. Then I dump the poop into the compost pile.
It takes me about five minutes every morning to clean (and it's so easy, often I clean before their bedtime, too.). The sand is always dry and without smells. It is coarse enough to not raise dust except when I put the new sand in. And even then, I can eliminate the dust if I shovel it in at ground level instead of throw it in.
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Oh I love the screen idea. Genius!