What to put in the coop? sand? sweet pdz? pine shavings?

[chicksbunsdog]

I was wondering what people do with the sand when they clear it out of the coop. I didn't realize that you could just mix it in with your garden soil - that makes it a whole lot easier to get rid of, as I was imaging having piles of old sand in our woods which wasn't very appealing to me.

 

[downsm75]

Lol, I use it in my flower beds too

 

[downsm75]

You should only have to change sand once a year, but I LOVE the way a garden grows with sand. My FIL ALWAYS tilled a load of sand in his garden, and it made it so easy to grow, weed and clean up. I do it twice becaus my run is too small. I will be separating my ducks and chickens soon by building a new run with a duck house. It's easy to clean sand...

 

[janinepeters]

How are the pine shavings in the run? Our run won't be covered (other than hardware cloth) and I would think it would get very sticky and kind of gross when it rains. I never considered putting it in the run.

I should have mentioned that the run with the shavings is a covered run, so it stays dry.

I have hay in the other, uncovered run. The chickens like to pick out the weed seeds. I rake it around daily so it does not become a matted mess. It breaks down pretty quickly, especially in wet weather, so I shovel the poopy, ground up hay right into the vegetable garden as mulch/fertilizer, every 1-4 weeks, depending on how wet the weather has been, and replace it with fresh hay.

 

[BigBren]

We use a wood shaving we get from a local sawmill, 70p for a huge bag, normally £5 will last us 6 months or more. Nothing too fine of course as it can play havoc with their breathing. It's very absorbent and we rarely have any odours to speak of. We also use it for the ducks with a thick layer of straw on top for them to nest up.

 

[cubbycopter47]

why don't you just put a strong tarp or strong plastic inside you chicken coop door so when you open it you just have to open they plastic door and then you have wood shaving staying in you coop

 

[Ylee]

I put down sand and topped it with pine shavings and sprinkled DE on top. The sand keeps me from sliding around in wet weather and has good drainage. But I also have a poop board below their roost that I keep PDZ in and I use a kitty litter scoop to clean it out. I can then put the droppings in my garden and till them into the soil.

 

[Orp lover]

Sand doesn't break up the poop i wouldn't go that way i have tried it before...

 

[DuckyDestiny]

Has anyone used the pads they put in horse stalls? I was curious how well this would work for there feet? The cleaning factor would be great, just hose it off, but I'm thinking maybe the surface is too hard?

 

[roseyred]

What

Sand doesn't break up the poop i wouldn't go that way i have tried it before...

what do you mean?