To sand or not sand?

[Venac]

I've heard that sand (heavy) is great for the coop and the run! I I've lasso heard it bad for the chickens. What's right???
I will use sand DE and ah for the bath but what about the coop?

 

[DobieLover]

DE is a waste of money at best and a respiratory irritant at worst. I would pass on that and just off plain old dry dirt for the dust bath.
I personally stopped using sand in my coop in the poop boards as it was increasing the dust load.

 

[lalalandchickens]

I'm using sand in the run and am wanting to change it yes it's great for poop scoop but it doesn't compost well and is heavy to clean all out. Am changing to coir compost

 

[Venac]

I'm using sand in the run and am wanting to change it yes it's great for poop scoop but it doesn't compost well and is heavy to clean all out. Am changing to coir compost

What is that? Coir

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I didn't want to use sand because of the weight of it, and I was worried I couldn't find any washed sand, meaning it would be dusty. If you can find any, I bought Grounds (coffee grounds) at Tractor Supply and have been using it for about three months now without changing it. It's still dust free and I scoop it daily, but they don't keep it stocked too well. I use Sweet PDZ (stall odor eliminator for horses) on my dropping board, and it's super dusty. I'd like to switch even the poop board to coffee grounds. I save my own coffee grounds and it more or less replenishes what is lost from the birds kicking it out of the coop and from scooping it, but I think by six months I may need to add a new bag of Grounds to really bulk it all up. My coop is 4' by 6' and I used three bags to get a 3" layer.

Here's their website: https://powerbycoffee.com/

 

[perkolator]

What is that? Coir

Coco coir/shredded coconut husk

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You bought coffee grounds at tractor supply???? Good to know...

I'm against sand, and I'm in FL, where there is a lot of it. I also have ducks in my flock, which raise some issues not present w/ just chickens, as ducks like to nest on the ground.

The "idea" of sand is that it allows water to quickly drain away (depending on what's underneath it, of course). In theory, that's fine - but if your soil isn't graded away from the coop before you cover it in sand, then water will try and pool wherever the underlying soil slows its passage. The space between sand is fine, its actual capacity for holding a volume of water is quite low - meaning what works for small amounts of water very well fan be rapidly overwhelmed with greater volumes. Finally, sand does nothing to dispose of or aid in the elimination of solid waste. and when you finally shovel all that heavy sand out of the coop to clean it, it does nothing to make good compost, either.

First, grade your soil away from your coop. "Water finds its own level". For the house, I'm using straw. Could go to a deep litter system, that's what's beginning under the house, but up top (as my birds free range most days), I'm not seeing much buildup over the course of a month, so I'm content to rake periodically. Where I have water sources, I've laid a thick bed of large river stones, NOT pea gravel. Water runs right between them, and away, the birds stand on top, out of any pooling. When the shit piles too high, I use a hose and wash it away, right thru the rocks and out of the house, to spread across the green shoots growing in that area. I'm not getting a lot of straw on my rocks, because of the location of the water relative to the entrance to the upper floor of the house - but if i was, it would be a problem.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

You bought coffee grounds at tractor supply???? Good to know...

Yes, I bought it in March I believe. I have done some sleuthing and supposedly they are finding a new distributor which is why it disappeared from TSC but that was just from reading comments on their Instagram photos. I am desperately hoping they bring it back! I'm about ready to starting hitting up Starbucks and making my own dried grounds! That is seriously how much I love it. I've used everything except sand, and I know I won't like sand.

 

[RebelChief]

I didn't want to use sand because of the weight of it, and I was worried I couldn't find any washed sand, meaning it would be dusty. If you can find any, I bought Grounds (coffee grounds) at Tractor Supply and have been using it for about three months now without changing it. It's still dust free and I scoop it daily, but they don't keep it stocked too well. I use Sweet PDZ (stall odor eliminator for horses) on my dropping board, and it's super dusty. I'd like to switch even the poop board to coffee grounds. I save my own coffee grounds and it more or less replenishes what is lost from the birds kicking it out of the coop and from scooping it, but I think by six months I may need to add a new bag of Grounds to really bulk it all up. My coop is 4' by 6' and I used three bags to get a 3" layer.

Here's their website: https://powerbycoffee.com/

I am very intrigued by this. I LOVE the smell of coffee...that would certainly be better than the smell of chicken poop.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I am very intrigued by this. I LOVE the smell of coffee...that would certainly be better than the smell of chicken poop.

The coop smells like breakfast ^_^