Using sand in run AND in coop?

[jungletoy]

I use sand exclusively in the coop. I also have hundreds of chickens. Like you I live in the high desert so any problems with smell or biological vectors is cured by the sun, arid air, and heat. I have made simple a custom rake using 1"x2" furring strips and 1/2" and 1/4" hardware mesh. Imagine the schick shaver with two blades, the first 'blade' or lead being a 24"x 6" 1/2" wire mesh with the second 24"x 6" 1/4" mesh getting the smaller debris. I run this through the coop floor weekly (3/4" of sand). When I do a monthly cleaning I sweep all the coop contents through my sand 'grizzley'. If you've ever seen a construction site with a large metal box with rebar welded in a grid across the top. A loader will dump a scoop on top and the dirt and fines will fall through and the rocks will roll of the sloped grid to the ground. The operator can then use the rocks or the sifted fill dirt as required. The sand grizzley used the same concept. I sweep the entire coop floor contents through my clean-out and re-use the cleaned sand adding a new sand from a nearby stream bed every month. Any moisture or biological is taken care of by the arid air and lack of humidity. The sand in in coop stays a cool 74-78 degrees when the temp outside is 100+ degrees. The poop/straw/sand mix is collected and dumped into one our many developing, raised garden beds for in-place composting with top soil and vermiculite.

I have less particulate matter in the coop generated by bedding ( I use straw in the nest boxes ). So even they get agiitated it's just feather dander and feed dust. I've tried cedar, pine, DE, top-soil ground cover and various combinations of them. The best and easiest to maintain is sand (based on my location, size of operation and homeostasis parameters) in my experimentation. When you are managing a micro commercial flock everything you buy for chickens reduces the capitalization on your product so finding sustainable and free methods is paramount. Hope this helps!

 

[jcatlin]

Bens-Hens
Love the scoop idea!

 

[Bens-Hens]

Thanks, not my idea first but I use it, had to share.

Speaking of that scoop and sand. We just did our first major floor clean out last weekend. We clean the over night poop pretty much daily, but the sand levels had dropped, and there was a bit of other debris in there. Used the scoop to sift through it all, then just topped it up with half a bag of playground sand (10kg or 22lb)

last a few months before needing this clean out, so pretty happy with the durability of sand in the coop.

 

[jcatlin]

Thanks for the information. I am putting the finishing touches on my first coop, and if all goes well I will be moving my four girls outside later today! This has been quite a summer project...I have loved every minute of it

 

[jcatlin]

Thanks, not my idea first but I use it, had to share.

Speaking of that scoop and sand. We just did our first major floor clean out last weekend. We clean the over night poop pretty much daily, but the sand levels had dropped, and there was a bit of other debris in there. Used the scoop to sift through it all, then just topped it up with half a bag of playground sand (10kg or 22lb)

last a few months before needing this clean out, so pretty happy with the durability of sand in the coop.

Thanks for the information. I am putting the finishing touches on my first coop, and if all goes well I will be moving my four girls outside later today! This has been quite a summer project...I have loved every minute of it

 

[MinBH2O]

I too use sand for the coop floor. Installed about a yard and a half in an 6' X 12'. Coop built on 16" X 4" x 2" cinder blocks burried in the ground. Build coop with a clean out door, outside the fenced in area to make annual turn over a bit easier. Clean the floor morning and night, very easy to manage using a cat litter scoop. Keep an old cat litter plastic pail with lid just outside the door...perfect size. Smell only becomes noticable about 3/4 full at which point it gets dumped into the garden composter. Cat scoop does miss some of the small stuff so making a sifter the size of a dust pan. Feathers collect in the coop corners and are difficult to get with scooper. Use DE mixed in. Floor a bit dusty but a sign the sand is dry, odor has not been an issue. Hang herbs: lemon balm and mint. Have not had an issue with flies. In fact fly sticky strip catches very little. Considering PDZ or Dry Stall as additional mixins if experience indicates a need. Use large mason mixing pandas under the roosts where most waste collects.