What do you guys use for sand in your pens? I'm thinking of adding sand to one of my pens, maybe two, if it's not an expensive project.
Is there a type of sand I should NOT use for chickens?
I have a mysterious age silkie (I think about 1 yr~11-13 months). She is my baby and I had great luck with her! Her name is Rosie (after Rosa Parks
) I got her at a fair from a cage filled with pullets and cockerels. The kicker? They weren't sexed. So, I had to look around, touch, feel, and talk to 12-15 different silkies. I was torn between a beautiful splash who had a vibrant personality and came right up and the shy darkest one who looked nervous and somewhat beat up. I talked to the guy who the cage belonged to, and after consulting my mom and the man, I finally made a decision. The shy one was mine. The man packed her up in a cardboard box with pine shavings (it was 10 AM and we weren't leaving until 6 PM) and a little bit of food and we paid. She was $15 (my mom had a little freak-out) but I felt she was worth every penny and more. We set off and spent the rest of the day giving her water melon, grass, and water. I went on one ride and got my aunt and uncle to watch her. I was nervous the whole ride.
Well, today, I took some fabulous pictures of her! Only about 40 minutes ago, she was perched in a tree, posing. Here she is:
Thanks! I love her look and personality. To this day, she has been broody once- From 5/3 to 6/8. I am so happy to have broken her of her broody.
I love my fluffballs too, and they are the sweetest chickens I have ever had! UNLESS they are protecting babies - then you better not mess with the babies
I have a mysterious age silkie (I think about 1 yr~11-13 months). She is my baby and I had great luck with her! Her name is Rosie (after Rosa Parks
) I got her at a fair from a cage filled with pullets and cockerels. The kicker? They weren't sexed. So, I had to look around, touch, feel, and talk to 12-15 different silkies. I was torn between a beautiful splash who had a vibrant personality and came right up and the shy darkest one who looked nervous and somewhat beat up. I talked to the guy who the cage belonged to, and after consulting my mom and the man, I finally made a decision. The shy one was mine. The man packed her up in a cardboard box with pine shavings (it was 10 AM and we weren't leaving until 6 PM) and a little bit of food and we paid. She was $15 (my mom had a little freak-out) but I felt she was worth every penny and more. We set off and spent the rest of the day giving her water melon, grass, and water. I went on one ride and got my aunt and uncle to watch her. I was nervous the whole ride.
Well, today, I took some fabulous pictures of her! Only about 40 minutes ago, she was perched in a tree, posing. Here she is:
Thanks! I love her look and personality. To this day, she has been broody once- From 5/3 to 6/8. I am so happy to have broken her of her broody.
Weasels and rats will also do this and leave the bodies laying around. They will bite the necks and drink the blood. It took losing 20 silkies to find that it was a rat as the culprit. I was really surprised.
I agree I don't see a cat leaving the chicks laying around like this. Cats are considered "free roaming" in my state meaning they are not required to be restricted to an area such as dogs are.
What do you guys use for sand in your pens? I'm thinking of adding sand to one of my pens, maybe two, if it's not an expensive project.
Is there a type of sand I should NOT use for chickens?
Don't use playsand, you want a nice coarse sand. If you live near a river and can get river sand that would be awesome and FREE, but you can order sand from a landfill or buy bags of it. Your supposed to use non-silica sand but I have had no luck finding it so I use all-purpose or tube sand.
