Washingtonians

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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My understanding is that "play sand" has had all the rough edges removed so it is safer for the birds to eat....but grit has rough edges, so I dunno....

 

[RedReiner]

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screened, at the gravel pit the run is put thru a screen and wash plant. the sand is screened out and washed as well as pea gravel, drain rock, cobble, granulithic etc. large cobbles are screened and belted to the crusher for crushed rock. the only difference I can think of is if they coat the play sand before bagging it.

 

[broodytood]

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I did buy one of each and there was a big difference. The play sand was just sand. The other had larger pebbles, sand, and very fine silt.

I'm sure there is a reason for the difference.

 

[tsasquatch]

Jeeez! Ok, yeah I'm not that worried since she looks really healthy, I was just curious, it seemed strangely long to go without laying considering my other 3 hens basically laid straight through the winter with very little supplemental lighting.

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I had a group of bantam one year old hens quit laying for ELEVEN months!!!

 

[RedReiner]

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oh boy I am just in time!!!! yes Hoss will be the dad, I havent had another rooster here for over a month and a half. and yes those are Juliette and Rosalee eggs, Larry is the dad

woohooo go babies!!!!!

Soooo, are you gonna ever put any of Hoss' eggs up for auction? I would love to add some of your eggs to the ones from Rising Star. They are big, beautiful babies too! I just love them!

when I put my other pen up and put hoss in with the two english girls I will sell some then. right now I have two smaller orp girls in with him and they will not hatch out nice big english chicks. It will be mid may when I get back from Minnesota and can put the new pen up.

 

[tsasquatch]

It kind of sounds like the differnece is primarily cosmetic. Play sand has a consistent size and is cleaned, so that the kids/pets playing in it dont come out looking like coal miners.

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I did buy one of each and there was a big difference. The play sand was just sand. The other had larger pebbles, sand, and very fine silt.

I'm sure there is a reason for the difference.

 

[broodytood]

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Soooo, are you gonna ever put any of Hoss' eggs up for auction? I would love to add some of your eggs to the ones from Rising Star. They are big, beautiful babies too! I just love them!

when I put my other pen up and put hoss in with the two english girls I will sell some then. right now I have two smaller orp girls in with him and they will not hatch out nice big english chicks. It will be mid may when I get back from Minnesota and can put the new pen up.

I will be waitin... no pressure!

My inlaws are from Minnie-sota! Sounds cold and the ticks and skeeters in the summer sound large and numerous! YUK!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

OK, here's some recent pics:

Jen, here's the two Serama's I hatched from you, they are about 6 1/2 wks old now. Male on the left, female on the right with assorted blue and black bantam cochins behind them.

Male on the left, female's back on the right

Baby Serama chickee that hatched this morning....still only two and they look the same so far!

Here's broody mama Penelope the blue Orp. No luck getting a glimpse at her baby again, but we can hear it chirping!

And here is Penelope's boyfriend, Mr. Baxter Beetle. Can't wait to hatch out some eggs from these too when she starts laying again!

And here's my 15 yr old DD holding the monster!

 

[broodytood]

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Cute Serama chicks! Looks like you'll have some nice babies out of your pair, too. Nice looking birds!

 

[Kaneke]

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who told you that? *curious* most of our arenas have utility sand in them and nobody has fallen over yet.

I first heard about it when we put a sand box in our back yard for the kiddos...I believe from a parenting magazine warning against the use of "regular" sand. Then last year when I was putting sand in run, I was getting bags of "regular" sand. The HD worker asked what it is for...I said chickens...and he said "well then you definitely want to use Play Sand. The other kind should not be used around small animals or kids". There's even a warning posted above the regular/construction sand bags with a caution about the dust from it causing respiratory problems. I wonder if the reason most larger scale projects use the construction sand is becuase the play sand only comes in 50# bags?

from what I was told, the play sand has been milled to have "rounder" edges, thus I was told it was not suitable for grit for chickens

the construction sand is crushed rather than milled, so it has some "tooth" to bind together in cement and to provide more stability when it is used to "bed" a walkway .. also supposedly it drains better

my take on this, if you fluff it up or throw it around , especially if it's windy, you CAN get silica particles in your lungs (don't breathe through your mouth, dummy !

)

however, what I got was the construction sand == partly because the play sand had been stored outdoors and was wet INSIDE the bag, and partly because I wanted the chickens to be able to utilize it as grit

in use, at least in the coop, it doesn't get fluffed up and scattered that much, it's a heavier sand and lies flat, the chickens walking on it, seem to smooth it into a nice even layer (I have only about an inch deep of sand, that's good enough for the coop anyway)