Switched to sand, but...

[lazy gardener]

My temps are similar to OP. I use DL in both coop and winter run. When I clean the bedding from under the perches, it gets scooped out into their summer run. I add extra material to the winter run, in an effort to keep the DL a minimum of 6" deep. Old hay, leaves, wood chips, garden debris, grass clippings. The run is partially covered with a green house tarp (over one section of the roof) and the remainder of the roof is covered with 2 x 4 welded wire to keep hawks out. Yes, they even visit in the very late fall, early spring. No doubt raptors also visit in the dead of winter. The 3 sides of the winter run are covered with plastic to provide a nice "green house" climate. Usually 20*F warmer than ambient temps during the day. The girls happily create compost for me all year round.

I will never consider sand as bedding material anywhere, after visiting a friend who uses sand for both pigeons and chickens. He meticulously rakes poo on a daily basis. Yet, 5 minutes in his aviary was enough to send my asthma into overdrive for the remainder of the day. Stink? Yeah. On the other hand, DL done correctly does not need maintenance other than adding more litter. I can also harvest wheel barrow loads of rich black compost from the run for my gardening pleasure.

 

[Jonessa]

We are relatively new to chickens. Our girls are just six months. 6 of 7 are laying. Just waiting for the Easter egger to join the club. Anyway, our coop is pine shavings. The coop has poop boards. I scoop them every two or three days. The poop boards are lined with PDZ. A little of that spills into the shavings on the floor. The scooped poops go in the compost next to the coop. The coop gets very little poop in the pine shavings. I did a full clean out two weeks ago and and added all of the pine shavings to the run. I really was wasting time and money as they were dry, relatively poop free and non smelly. Over the last 5 months, the run has transformed from a barren very hard dirt surface, to a nice soft blend of grass clippings, garden waste, leaves, pine needles and that load of pine shavings. No nasty smell. The only thing I will do to the run in the spring is use some of the compost for the gardens. One thing I have noticed, is as the run has transformed the chickens spend less time roosting (see my avatar) and more time scratching. The three pictures attached show a before and after of the run. So count me as somebody that likes pine shavings in the coop and a run of compost materials.

Posted edited to add a recent picture of the run.

Haha, you could have been describing my set-up! I also find that my pine shavings in the coop stay clean for a long time; between the poop boards (with PDZ) and the chickens spending only their sleeping time in there, there is basically no poop in the shavings. When it is finally time to change them out, I will add them to the run. Like your chickens, mine seem much happier and more active with the mixed carbon-based litter in the run. Yesterday I spent some time in the run actively looking for poop - I couldn't find any, it literally disappears! And no stink!
Nice coop and run!

 

[cottagehome]

I use a product called Koop Clean that is chopped hay & straw with sweet PDZ in it to help break it down. It is wonderful and the girls love scratching through it. I deep litter with it and it breaks down into wonderful compost for the garden! It also generates a little more warmth in the winter. I get mine through my local ACE Hardware.

 

[Liv4birds]

Yes, nice coop! Looks a bit like mine. I put a bale of straw down for winter and the chickens enjoy scratching around in it, making cozy nests during the day when it is too snowy to roam around outside. I clean up droppings every couple of days and it just seems way nicer for them than sitting on frozen sand.

 

[Chullicken]

I live in News England and the winters, though not as severe as probably B.C. are still pretty miserable at times. I had plain dirt as well in my run and shavings in the coop. Shavings I notice keep and hold moisture a lot which is bad, as does hay. So in short, for the snowy cold times of the year I maintain 3"-4" layer of All Purpose Sand in both my run and my house. It requires daily maintenance as with everything and to break up the frozen chunks (More so in the coop). However, in the run I notice they don't like the cold ground so they are provided with plenty of places off the ground and I also put a nice healthy layer of Chopped Straw (Not your usual straw) which comes in a bag and last me awhile. Its easy to clean, gets tilled up every few days to aerate and cleaned out once ever other week fully. I do notice when I kneel down on it, my knees feel a lot warmer than just dirt. Though sand holds heat rather well once it gets warmed up. Several studies out there from the UK that suggest as you said, sand has a higher thermal density to it. Really up to you and what you want to do for maintenance. Having used several upon several different kinds of bedding material, I just know what I prefer as their keeper and what seems to work best with my setup and their health. I can't say any method is better than another. Good luck!

 

[Chullicken]

Yes, nice coop! Looks a bit like mine. I put a bale of straw down for winter and the chickens enjoy scratching around in it, making cozy nests during the day when it is too snowy to roam around outside. I clean up droppings every couple of days and it just seems way nicer for them than sitting on frozen sand. View attachment 1171862

That is a really sharp looking coop!

 

[Gilmore768]

View attachment 1160711 View attachment 1160712 Here's a few pictures of our coop

What a nice coop and run area. Come build one for me !!

 

[Katieliz]

I am new to chickens, so no expert. I use sand in the bottom of the coop and pine shavings in the interior. I have been treating it like a litter box in that once a week I rake up all the poop and left-over food materials. Just yesterday I raked in some Sweet PDZ to help with the odor. Seems to be working well for now.

 

[Jonessa]

What a nice coop and run area. Come build one for me !!

Thanks! Sheesh, it only took all summer! It's officially finished as of yesterday! It took 4 weekends to get it ready for the chicks to move into - but then we've been slowly putting the finishing touches on since then: nesting boxes, PVC feeders, tin roof, window, and finally, gutter! It feels great to have it done. I'll be posting more on it in the coop design and construction forum soon!

 

[chicmom]

This is a great thread! I have a sand chicken run, but wood shavings inside my coop. I started adding some dry chopped up leaves this fall. It's not pretty like the sand, but I'm thinking they enjoy it more.