Winter bedding for chickens and ducks

[bunkerhomestead]

Hello - I'm preparing the indoor spaces for my birds for winter. I have 9 hens 1 roo and 6 laying ducks. The ducks and chickens are in separate indoor pens inside the barn for winter. I'm in upstate NY with harsh winters but the barn is dry and draft free. I'm rethinking my bedding for winter. I've been reading about the benefits of sand. The chicken bedding has been pine shavings, deep litter for winter. I have seen them nestle in the deep bedding in the daytime on cold days. So I'm wondering if sand would be too cold for my area.

Last winter for the duck pen I set up a platform for their water buckets which worked out pretty well so their splashing of the water was contained to one area. It was still very labor intensive to muck out that space because shavings there became blocks of ice from their water splashing. I used straw last year and that was better but the water area still was a problem. I'm thinking of using sand in half their pen where the water is and the other half straw because they sleep there in the cold and they love their straw beds.

So long story short - would sand bedding be too cold for use in my winter chicken area and would it be a good idea to use sand for 1/2 the indoor duck pen's water area and the other half straw?

Thank you very much for any advice.

 

[cavemanrich]

I would go with 1/2 sand in the duck area, where the water is. I would leave chickens' area as you have before.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[Alaskan]

The sand will be way worse than the shavings when it gets wet... solid concrete block.

Duck water in winter is just always a pain.... segregate it as much as possible from whatever bedding you choose.

I like wood shavings the best.