What's the best litter for a large chicken run?

[Arielle]

I have one run about 20 x 20 that I toss in sticks, rake leaves and dump in. IT is higher in the middle so it drains well. I toss in old watermelons and other goodies to the chooks and they eat what they want, the rest composts.

 

[Sky Hen]

Before I got my girls I did a LOT of research on this site. Lol! After reading hundreds of posts over several months I went with sand and am extremely happy with the ease of cleaning and non issue of smells.

I have 8-16 week old girls, a 6'x8' house, a 12'x18' run.

 

[jeremyhodges]

Before I got my girls I did a LOT of research on this site. Lol! After reading hundreds of posts over several months I went with sand and am extremely happy with the ease of cleaning and non issue of smells.

I have 8-16 week old girls, a 6'x8' house, a 12'x18' run.

Thanks! I think I will go with sand then. Where did you get your sand? I know I should try and get a course grade if possible.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Thanks! I think I will go with sand then. Where did you get your sand? I know I should try and get a course grade if possible.

The "grade" doesn't really matter.
Sand is sand. Get what's cheapest

Most any building supply store can deliver loads of sand, as well as those who sell stone or topsoil
1 cubic yd will cover a 10 X 10 area about 3" deep

 

[jeremyhodges]

The "grade" doesn't really matter.
Sand is sand. Get what's cheapest

Most any building supply store can deliver loads of sand, as well as those who sell stone or topsoil
1 cubic yd will cover a 10 X 10 area about 3" deep

Many people on here have said that if you get too fine a grade of sand it is really dusty. I want to try and avoid the mess if I can.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Many people on here have said that if you get too fine a grade of sand it is really dusty. I want to try and avoid the mess if I can.

All sand is going to be a little dusty
Dusty is GOOD, because it means it's dry, and chickens love DUST baths

Buy a truck load of cheap sand and don't fret over dust and grain size.
The birds won't care, and any dust will soon blow or wash away

It's not going to create a "mess" in the run.
The chickens will be doing that part

 

[BougieChicken]

My run is 10x10 and the best thing I ever did was to use sand very easy to clean with a cat litter scoop, run is completely covered so it doesn't get wet, they love to dust bath and no smell, very user friendly I clean it once a week and its good to go.If I remember correctly I used 2 yards of sand had it dumped in before the roof went on.

What kind of sand do you use?

 

[21hens-incharge]

What kind of sand do you use?

Unfortunately jetdog has not been on since 2016.

It looks like coarse sand not play sand to me.

 

[linguini]

x2, I have about 400 sq ft, half is sand (love it!) and the other is pine straw mixed with grass clippings. Every few months I shovel out the straw/grass stuff and spread it in my flower beds. The sand, I just rake it and throw on some PDZ (stall refresher) once in awhile. So easy....no smell. I added a couple grazing frames for fresh greens and everybody is happy!

That's not a chicken run, it's a park! or, better yet, a nice looking playground! your chooks are lucky

 

[linguini]

The area is about 7 feet by 10 feet. It would definitely be a lot to try and cover with any type of litter, but if I don't use litter won't it eventually start to smell? The small run that I use now I use shavings and do the deep litter method, and it doesn't ever smell.

We have an 8x8x8 run covered with tarp. We finally settled with sand for the floor after experimenting with chopped hay. We dump weeds from yard work on the ground, so far it's working surprisingly well. No smell, and the ground remains pretty dry. (they do have an extended yard to hang out during the day). Chickens are happy digging holes for their dirt baths in the covered run - especially when it's very hot outside.
It's been a year since we built the cube attached to their coop, I've only done one spring cleaning: hosed down the perches, took some dirt out for compost, and replaced with more sand. (6 bags of 50lb play sand) I'd say it's literally maintenance free.