Talk to me about sand?

[ChickenMamaC]

We had planned to use the deep litter method in our coop, but read an article yesterday that made sand seem easy, healthy, and economical.
Anyone have experience with this? Pros & cons? How about in the run?

We are total newbies. Our babies are two weeks old and we are run-building right now.

Thanks!

 

[azygous]

I've had sand in my coops and runs for years. I love it for ease in keeping clean. The chickens love it to dirt bathe in and for grit. (I use masonry sand that's fine but has larger grit size pieces).

The drawback is if you haven't channeled runoff away from your run and the sand gets flooded. It can be a real mess. I get flash floods each summer where torrents come down past my run. But it's all channeled away so the run stays dry.

 

[leighks]

I have washed construction sand- don’t use play sand, it’s too fine and can bother their respiratory tract- and I love the ease of cleaning it and the lack of smell in the coop. I also throw some Sweet PDZ down weekly and use on the poop board as well.
If you google The Chicken Chick sand in coop there’s a great article on her blog about using sand.

 

[dunnmom]

I like my sand, the girls seem to like it, too. It does have to be amended now and then, because it becomes packed dirt after awhile. I need to amend mine and quit putting it off. Never had a leg mite problem, until I neglected amending the sand in the run.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have visited a well kept sand floored coop and pigeon aviary. Could not even manage 5 minutes without my reactive air way going into overdrive. I was in respiratory misery for the remainder of the day. this guy faithfully rakes his coop and aviary daily.

I keep a deep litter coop. I can go in my coop without issue. Granted, I do not spend a lot of time in the coop, but can go in to do what I need to do, and it does not send my respiratory system into crisis.

No matter what system you use, I recommend that you wear a good respiratory mask when doing coop management. Even if you don't have lung issues. Dust and microscopic fecal matter can do a number on the lungs.

 

[jennybvcr]

Visiting because I just built my first duck run and used sand but left room if I wanted to switch to another substrate. Watching for opinions. I have not fully formed my own yet.

 

[Kathy Golla]

I have sand in my coop and deep litter in my run.
I like the sand in the coop. It’s a cinch to maintain. There really are no drawbacks other than it can get dusty when you rake. I wear a mask.
I have a hen susceptible to bumblefoot, she’s also a heavy hen, She tends to bruise her feet jumping down from the roost, so if you have sand in the coop my suggestion would be to keep the roosts low and not have big sand people where they land off of the roost.
I heard sand can be hard if it gets wet.

 

[4 ever Orpington]

We had planned to use the deep litter method in our coop, but read an article yesterday that made sand seem easy, healthy, and economical.
Anyone have experience with this? Pros & cons? How about in the run?

We are total newbies. Our babies are two weeks old and we are run-building right now.

Thanks!

 

[boz]

I don't think the coast of the sand would help my pocket book. for my chicken run is way to big to put sand in and then I move the run around it is a 3 peace electric fence that is 164 ft long each by 4' height so it would wash way when it rains here is a pic keep one rooster out along with 6 more but you can see the fence that he is walking

 

[LittleMissCountry]

I use sand in the coop, but not in the run. I love it for the coop. I scoop daily and it makes it so much easier to maintain. Plus, as a new chicken owner, it allows me to watch their poop, so I can see if there is an issue with illness. When I used pine shavings, that was harder to do. I am still learning a lot, but can monitor their droppings easily.
I use a semi deep litter method for the run, mostly because we get a ton of rain here (especially lately), and the sand would just wash out or compact.