What to do with sand in coop?

[ADozenGirlz]

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No grit. They'll eat the sand they need to, but I offer oyster shell free choice for the calcium & imagine it must do double-duty for the grinding action in the crop.

 

[Chicken0Boy]

Oh ok!

 

[TwilightMom]

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Don't think I'll scoop the poop everyday! yech!

Prob just once a week...my chickens free range daily. I guess there are many ways to keep chickens, huh?

 

[LesGan]

I have sand on the floor of my chicken house for 18 months and really like it....sand over concrete floor. I keep one of those long handled doggie pooper scoopers and a small childrens' garden rake and everyday quickly scoop the poop. When sand starts to wear too thin then I add another bag.....or shovel fulls. The easiest for clean floor that I have found.

 

[Chicken0Boy]

Awesome I am so excited!

 

[BankerJohn]

what will you have for a floor in your coop? Is there a wood floor that you intend to cover in sand? Think about moisture... sand will pull moisture from the surface and send it, thru gravity, down to the bottom of the sand. If the sand will be on wood, you may want to think about this for a moment.

I am a BIG believer in sand, but I also have my sand over rock and dirt... no floor under the sand, so moisture will not pool anywhere. Also, there is no wood flooring that may rot at a future point in time.

John

 

[Chicken0Boy]

I have though about that too and to solve it I am going to put some kind of paint to prevent the plywood from rotting, and then put a big piece of vinyl to cover the floor! Is this okay?

 

[BankerJohn]

you may still have wetness that in my opinion, over time, will accumulate and cause problems due to moisture. A solution, just like with the Deep Litter Method, will be to change out the medium on a regular basis. Sand is a LOT cheaper when bought in bulk, compared to pine shavings. Will you have a water supply in the coop? What is your plan if the water spills into the flooring material (either sand or pine shavings)?


I did see one raised coop with a welded mesh floor. The mesh was then covered in window screen with sand on top to make the flooring for the coop. Then, all moisture will run through and drip out the bottom without any of it staying inside creating high humidity or mold smells.

 

[elmo]

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I do, simply because it's so easy. I also use a tray under the roost to make it easy to dump the night's offerings into my composter. But you wouldn't have to because the sand dries the poop out and makes it pretty much odorless

Unless you want to do the deep litter method, sand is great, in my opinion.

 

[elmo]

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I hear your concern about this, but all I can say is that in my small coop (4' by 4') the occasional spill from the waterers dries up from normal evaporation before it works down to the floor. If your coop is adequately ventilated, I don't think this would be much of a problem, unless of course you spilled a whole lot of water. I have a temp and humidity gauge in the coop and it never goes much over 50 percent even with the chickens in there exhaling all night.