Sand solves the problem of a poopy coop. For more on using straw, see my article, Straw for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons, and how to do it right. None of them have all of these qualities. As an added bonus, its really fun! 
That fresh bedding smell doesnt last for long though.
Certainly chickens in the wild dont live this way. For those of you who are new to chickens, chickens have a crop located above their chest near the bottom of their neck. I used this sand to fill the cracks in a paver walkway. Obviously gravel companies measure sand in different waysthe company I used measured the sand in cubic yards, whereas the estimate referenced by the Happy Chicken Coop measured the sand in tons. For the same reasons, sand coops have markedly fewer flies. When I first started looking into whether or not I should use sand for my coop, I found these two opinions: Sand is the best bedding out there, and you are making a huge mistake if you use anything else for your chickens, Sand is the worst bedding out there, and you are a monster if you use it for your chickens. Many people rely on the deep bedding method to keep their coops a few degrees warmer in the winter. This did the trick. Another important notewhen I did put in new pine shavings or straw bedding, my chickens were always so excited about it. However, many gravel companies dont have a special name for the sand. Pine shavings have not been sitting fully exposed in the great outdoors.
Ive tried all sorts of different materials for my coops bedding, including pine shavings, straw, and sand. Really, you dont know what youre in for until you do it. This important piece of information comes from the Chicken Chick.
Alot is sand had leaked from bags before I picked up. Ive used both of these! And if you want to see how sand lines up against the two most common bedding types, straw and pine shavings, check out another of my very thoroughly researched articles, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings.. Perhaps buy a little extra sand to err on the side of caution. Sand doesnt hold moisture the same way organic bedding does, and because of this, you dont need to worry as much about mold and ammonia.
This means that the grains can compact easilythere is a lot less pore space, and when the grains get wet, they are very cohesive. You are using an out of date browser. I scrape the trays every morning using a taping knife. Additionally, in humans, long-term exposure to play sand can cause cancer. If they didnt have their coop sand, Id have to make special arrangements to make sure they were able to continue dust bathing outside. Each year or so, I take the sand out of the coop and put new sand inthis is why I recommend buying twice as much sand as you need to fill your coop. Its a range of different sizes. Think: newborn calves and lambs that live in barns and sleep on straw bedding. This shovel has holes in it and acts like a giant kitty litter scooper. At best, chickens living in these conditions will be extremely uncomfortable. It was definitely pretty coarse.
Sand bedding is low cost in the long run because you dont have to keep buying new sand. People get used to it, which is why you dont hear many people talking about this, but when you first get started with chickens, you really have the yuck factor when it comes to the bedding. If you still feel uncertain about what to order, print off this picture and take it to your local gravel company.
The main reason using sand for chicken coops is so controversial is because people are all talking about different types of sandand some sand is terrible to use for chicken coops. You may want to consider putting gravel in as well to help with drainage. If your chicken eats play sand or any other type of fine-grained that becomes easily compacted, the sand can compact in the crop, not passing on into the digestive system. Stay away from play sand.
It just felt noticeably cooler and the sand was cooler to the touch. A giant pile of sand in front of one of my chicken coops, waiting for use in the coop next year.
I dont know what has pooped in it. I visited the gravel company to see what they had available.
The only thing Alot is sand had leaked from bags before I picked Shop Home Decorators Collection Walkway and Path Lighting, Solid Bamboo Board Home Decorators Collection, Shop Stainless Steel Flushmount Outdoor Pendant Lights, Home Decorators Collection Barton Bay 1-Light Bronze and Champagne Pewter Orb Mini Pendant 27030, Atlite - Emergency Emergency & Exit Lights, Winda Cabinet Furniture Collection in Dark Brown, Interested in purchasing a pallet? Another concern has to do with heating a sand-filled brooder. You dont want to scoop out the poopbecause sand bedding doesnt decompose with the poop, you dont want to just put sand in your coop and leave it there untouched forever. All Rights Reserved. With the deep bedding method, your bedding releases a little bit of heat as it decomposes. Its an excellent feature for a prey animal, like chickens, because having their heads down eating, particularly if theyre out in the open, makes them vulnerable to predators. Here I discuss all the nitty gritty details of my experience with and research on chicken coop sand, including: Can you use play sand in your chicken coop?
Ill report back with how well it works. For another example, the Happy Chicken Coop blog says that filling an 8x12 coop to a 6 inch depth would require 2.5 tons of sand.
I worried something was wrong with her. When the chickens come in from free ranging, they drag in the mud which also gets the nesting boxes and eggs filthy.
I actually use this sand for my chicken coop and run. I used this sand to fill weights for a cantilever umbrella. It stays drier than all other types of bedding. Sand is a material that is very natural to chickens. This is because the sand is blocking the passageway out of the crop. But they actually prefer their sheltered coop dust baths in those cold, snowy months! For a summary of the latest research on this, see my article, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer? I used this sand to fill weights for a cantilever umbrella. As a mix of smalll pebbles and coarse sand. I leave the old sand out for the year and let it get rinsed and dried repeatedly through the year by the elements. How in the world is your bedding getting soaking wet? The good news, though, is that once you buy it, you dont have to keep getting more as you do with other types of bedding. That sounds hyperbolic, but really Im just being blunt. If your sand is so coarse it wont fit through your scooper, youre going to have a hard time cleaning the poop outmore on cleaning sand below. I started my coops with pine shavings, hoping to use the deep litter method to keep my chickens warmer over the winter. The sand was perfect for my brick on sand patio project. The BEST luxury coop youll ever buy: Spoil your chickens with Rita Marie's, Chicken coop ventilation: 21 design ideas with pictures, Straw for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons, and how to do it right.
Silica and silicosis explained. This then prevents the chicken from being able to digest any foodthe crop just gets bigger and bigger, the more the chicken eats. For more information on silicosis and chickens, see my article, Will sand bedding kill your chickens? Chicken keepers are unlikely to realize that their play sand is the culprit. I have more on this topic in the section below, How to clean sand bedding in your chicken coop, but I do scoop out the poop every day in my small coop and once every 1-2 weeks in my large coop. Just leaving it there may work for quite awhile, but if you dont keep it clean in the long term, youre going to have major coop sanitation problems. Need Help?
See my article here for more info and sources. It absorbed the excess water that normally would b there for days.also used it under gravel in by the French drain. Its a bag of wet sand. Your coop doesnt have a flooryour sand bedding may get wet if moisture is constantly coming up from the ground. The ammonia in my coop got to a high level because certain types of bacteria flourish on damp bedding and release ammonia. Best price for general sand clean and consistent. However, your chickens will do best with sand if the run is covered.
And when I used pine shavings or straw in my coops, the coops always had a little bit of a poop smell to them no matter what I didexcept when I first removed all the old bedding and put the new stuff in. They didnt have anything that coarse. The first time I felt a chickens full crop was unnerving. I use this brooder heating plate from Amazon in my brooder (the chicks love it!). The delivery cost me $90. This happened to me my first summer raising chickens. This may cause long-term respiratory problems in your chickens, who are very sensitive to poor air quality. But dont take my word for itthe scientific research backs me up on this (see my article, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings for more information). Every bag the same. Its a bag of wet sand.
I tape the scoop to a broom handle and cut it to my size.
However, I had to pay to get the sand delivered, and thats where it got expensive. Because sand is so good at insulating, I worry it may retain too much heat under the brooder heating plate. The second reason you dont want to use play sand, or any fine-grained sands, is because fine-grained sands are really dusty. Your friends chickens may not ever eat enough play sand for crop impaction, or perhaps the play sand they are eating is passing through their crops just fine. Their access to dust baths outside is also limited in the winter. The dust from fine-grained sands may even eventually cause silicosis in your chickens. Use concrete sand. I actually use this sand for my chicken coop and run. He put the material right where it was needed. These all have potential problems too, though. Although it was not my experience when I used the deep bedding method, many say their coops are noticeably warmer with this method.
Was unable to use it to fill up a plastic base because it was so wet, it just sat in the funnel ans stuck to everything. The best I can find is Quikrete All-Purpose Sand. The chickens looked much less miserable in the coop. Depending on where you live, sand may be low cost in the short run as well. Because a sandy coop is such a cleaner coop, especially if youre scooping out poop daily or at least weekly, sand bedding contains lower bacteria counts.Chickens in a sand coop should have less exposure to other pathogens, like Coccidiosis.
If you have a waterer in your coop that ever leaks or spills a little bit, you run the risk of ammonia building up and of course, the risk of mold growing. I purchased my sand in the early fall and the day the gravel company delivered it, it rained. It works well for that purpose and most other projects requiring all-purpose sand. Ive seen the opposite. NO! An important point here is that even if you have another type of bedding, like pine shavings or straw, if the bedding is getting wet, your chickens are going to really suffer. So there my chickens were, covering themselves in poopy, decomposing pine bedding, looking so innocent and gross. The delivery driver was right on time and very helpful. Unlike many other forms of bedding, like pine shavings, sand is a material that chickens in the wild are likely to see and live on.
And despite the fact that chickens have wonderful dirt outside for dust bathing, when your girls get that itch to dust bathe, some of them dont want to have to go all the way outside. Does your chicken coop need to be off the ground? Oh my god! If you are using electricity in your coop, theres always a chance of fire. This is simply because your coop will have so much less wet poop in it, and because sand is inorganic and not breaking down. Because my chickens are free range, I have not bothered putting bedding in their run (and their runs are not covered). If you know youre not going to be motivated to scoop out the poop daily or at least once every few weeks, your sand will eventually need to be replaced with brand new sand. I wouldnt want it much shallower than that in a large coop. You remove much of the poop through scooping, and the poop thats still left in the coop is dried out.
The pros of using sand in the chicken coop, The cons of using sand in the chicken coop, How sand holds up against other bedding types, When not to use sand for chicken coop bedding, Exactly how to find and buy sand for your chicken coop, Lets start by getting this one thing out of the way. My chickens dont like to leave the coop as much in the bad winter weather, and dust bathing in the sand bedding not only keeps them healthier but gives them something to do. Crop impaction from sand is most common in chicks, but some chicken owners have said this has happened with their adult chickens as well. Sand may be used in the run. If the run is uncovered, the sand will get wet, causing it to clump and potentially harden. Check out the video below to see just how fast a fire can start in your coop if you use organic bedding, like pine shavings, and a heat lampspoiler: within 45 seconds. I worry that the sand may have some pathogens in it from these wild animals and open range livestock. You cant keep your coop dryas I mentioned above, some people said they had sand in their coop that somehow got wet and then froze in the cold weather. Gravel companies have referred to this type of sand as river bank sand, mortar sand, and concrete sand. For the new chicken owner, let me just say something else. And you dont have to have a leaky waterer in your coop for bedding to get dampwatery chicken poops can have the same effect. I mentioned above that if some of my chickens dont feel like going outside, they will dust bathe in the bedding.
What about insulation in the cold winter months? JavaScript is disabled.
Theyd cluck a bunch, scratch around in it excitedly, lay eggs in it, and nest in it. These are not qualities you want in your bedding. It is more course than play sand. Good general purpose sand, easy to use on a building project and excellent value for money.
We have had a lot of rain lately and the sand has drained quickly and kept the area dry.
This year, I plan to cover one of my runs completely and try sand in it. Every 1-2 weeks, I use a shovel with holes in it, like this shovel from amazon, to remove the poop on the floor in my large 10x10 coop. However, I would note that ours wasn't dry. The following sections detail all these fantastic features of sand bedding. Obviously, sand wont work for this because its inorganic. It worked well for this although there are some smaller stones in the sand which you need to look out for so that they don't stop the sand from compacting properly between the blocks. Overall the product was good and served the propose I needed.
flock plans. I enjoyed doing the project myself and saving money. If the sand doesnt work, I may just brood the chicks on paper towels even though that means lots of cleaning and bedding replacement. I ended up using this and mixing it with some dirt.
Although there are some treatments for crop impaction if caught in time, you want to avoid this condition at all costs. Sand bedding is heavier than other bedding, which means its a bit more of a workout putting it in your coop than other types of bedding. Remember, they say that to fill an 8x12 coop with sand to a 6 inch depth, youd need about 2.5 tons of sand. Use it for my above the floor pool as a mat and it function. Easy to use and mix with gravel to create a platform for my garbage cans and at minimum costs. It didnt dry out until summer the next year.
The Chicken Chick, however, has used sand in her run for years. But to give you an idea of how much sand you might need, I needed about 3.15 cubic yards of sand to fill my 10x10 coop to a 4-5 inch depth. When I first added sand to my coop in the heat of the summer, I was amazed at the huge reduction of flies. Not everybody does this step, but it gives me peace of mind. It was not uncommon for me to find several eggs every day with poop smeared on them. That is absolutely horrible! But there are also plenty of anecdotes where play sand has caused major problems. Its probably easiest to just to let your gravel company know how big your coop is and how deep you want it filled, and then ask them for a quote.
You want your sand to be as coarse as possible, while still being fine enough that most of it will sift through your kitty litter scooper. Peat moss for chicken coop bedding: Amazing or dangerous? I needed construction grade sand for my chicken yard. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The pine shavings bedding on top was completely dry but some of the bedding near the floor was getting soaked. I plan on getting more bags in the future. As any chicken owner knows, chickens need grit to help break down their food during digestion. Your chicks are just learning what to eat, and they may eat the bedding, leading to crop impaction and death.
If you read my section below on yearly sand cleaning, youll see that I like to swap out my coop sand for a new pile of sand after a year or so. This is not a sand problem, but a maintenance problem. Does sand make good chicken coop bedding?
I use it for my chickens coop and run .its great. That is also what I have found, will it be ok for chickens? To learn how to build this exact coop, check out my video course and plans. With sand in your coop, you dont have to worry about the increase in moisture leading to a drastic increase in ammonia. I mixed 110 bags with a 2 bag mixer, made it pretty wet so i could do about 25 bags , then start working the edges.
And in the winter, wet sand may freeze. A regular, enclosed coop wont have that exposure to the sun inside and will actually be much cooler. People either believe that sand is a perfect wonderland or that sand is a horror story. This means it retains the moisture from chicken poop longer than more coarse-grained sands. Many chickens get extremely watery poop in the summer months because they are drinking so much more water. ), Im definitely going to try sand. The bricks that I ordered from Home Dep Good for leveling our concrete block wall and for mixing with cement as extra ballast. Even though we barely get rain here, the dew that collected overnight was enough to keep it just slightly damp until summertime. It really is such a nicer living environment for your girls and roos. One last thingif youre new to chickens, regardless of which bedding you choose, youll want to cover the bedding completely with paper towels for the first few days or even a week. You have no idea how gross coops can get.
In my smaller coops, I use just a regular kitty litter scooper every day. I had to wait for the sand to dry out. Thank goodness for husbands who support your chicken addictions! And only sand.
Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures, An excuse to talk chicken with yaw'll .
I do live in the country though, and this gravel company is a lot more expensive than what youd find in a more populated area. Because of this, Ive always felt more comfortable brooding my chicks on fresh pine shavings. And you can even buy pine shavings on Amazon and have them delivered to your front door! Bring a kitty litter scooper with you. Once the following year is up, I swap the now year-old sand in the coop with the sand thats been sitting out for that year. I had to empty the whole coop (and it was a large coop, so this took some effort), let it dry out for a couple of days, and start all over again. Unlike organic bedding materials, sand is not flammable. The winter coop is a lot poopier than the summer coop. The yearly cleaning can be very labor intensive (more on this below).
Set up nice and is fully cured and has a 20k pound water tank on it no issues. One more thing hereif your coop doesnt have a floor, you may have problems with moisture coming up from the bare ground into your sand. Play sand may cause crop impaction in the short term, and it may cause serious respiratory illness in the long term.
They wanted me to give them the size in millimeters, but I had no clue. This means your chickens arent protected from the elements, and your coop needs to be enclosed. Its a one-time deal. Consider using straw instead, and either use the deep litter method or replace the bedding frequently. The chickens walk through the sand to get to the nesting boxes, and the poop and mud either come off completely in the sand (and I scoop it out), or it at least dries a lot. It is ideal for coops in the summertime as long as your coop is enclosed (i.e., four walls and a roof). So the same reason kids are able to use wet play sand to mold and build things like sandcastles is the same reason chickens are at an increased risk for crop impaction. Ive found that sand by far exceeds the other types of bedding when it comes to whats best for my chickens. And, if your chickens sense danger at any time, they can stay hidden for quite a while without eating as long as their crops are full.
That fresh bedding smell doesnt last for long though. Certainly chickens in the wild dont live this way. For those of you who are new to chickens, chickens have a crop located above their chest near the bottom of their neck. I used this sand to fill the cracks in a paver walkway. Obviously gravel companies measure sand in different waysthe company I used measured the sand in cubic yards, whereas the estimate referenced by the Happy Chicken Coop measured the sand in tons. For the same reasons, sand coops have markedly fewer flies. When I first started looking into whether or not I should use sand for my coop, I found these two opinions: Sand is the best bedding out there, and you are making a huge mistake if you use anything else for your chickens, Sand is the worst bedding out there, and you are a monster if you use it for your chickens. Many people rely on the deep bedding method to keep their coops a few degrees warmer in the winter. This did the trick. Another important notewhen I did put in new pine shavings or straw bedding, my chickens were always so excited about it. However, many gravel companies dont have a special name for the sand. Pine shavings have not been sitting fully exposed in the great outdoors.
Ive tried all sorts of different materials for my coops bedding, including pine shavings, straw, and sand. Really, you dont know what youre in for until you do it. This important piece of information comes from the Chicken Chick.
Alot is sand had leaked from bags before I picked up. Ive used both of these! And if you want to see how sand lines up against the two most common bedding types, straw and pine shavings, check out another of my very thoroughly researched articles, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings.. Perhaps buy a little extra sand to err on the side of caution. Sand doesnt hold moisture the same way organic bedding does, and because of this, you dont need to worry as much about mold and ammonia. This means that the grains can compact easilythere is a lot less pore space, and when the grains get wet, they are very cohesive. You are using an out of date browser. I scrape the trays every morning using a taping knife. Additionally, in humans, long-term exposure to play sand can cause cancer. If they didnt have their coop sand, Id have to make special arrangements to make sure they were able to continue dust bathing outside. Each year or so, I take the sand out of the coop and put new sand inthis is why I recommend buying twice as much sand as you need to fill your coop. Its a range of different sizes. Think: newborn calves and lambs that live in barns and sleep on straw bedding. This shovel has holes in it and acts like a giant kitty litter scooper. At best, chickens living in these conditions will be extremely uncomfortable. It was definitely pretty coarse.
Sand bedding is low cost in the long run because you dont have to keep buying new sand. People get used to it, which is why you dont hear many people talking about this, but when you first get started with chickens, you really have the yuck factor when it comes to the bedding. If you still feel uncertain about what to order, print off this picture and take it to your local gravel company. The main reason using sand for chicken coops is so controversial is because people are all talking about different types of sandand some sand is terrible to use for chicken coops. You may want to consider putting gravel in as well to help with drainage. If your chicken eats play sand or any other type of fine-grained that becomes easily compacted, the sand can compact in the crop, not passing on into the digestive system. Stay away from play sand.
It just felt noticeably cooler and the sand was cooler to the touch. A giant pile of sand in front of one of my chicken coops, waiting for use in the coop next year.
I dont know what has pooped in it. I visited the gravel company to see what they had available.
The only thing Alot is sand had leaked from bags before I picked Shop Home Decorators Collection Walkway and Path Lighting, Solid Bamboo Board Home Decorators Collection, Shop Stainless Steel Flushmount Outdoor Pendant Lights, Home Decorators Collection Barton Bay 1-Light Bronze and Champagne Pewter Orb Mini Pendant 27030, Atlite - Emergency Emergency & Exit Lights, Winda Cabinet Furniture Collection in Dark Brown, Interested in purchasing a pallet? Another concern has to do with heating a sand-filled brooder. You dont want to scoop out the poopbecause sand bedding doesnt decompose with the poop, you dont want to just put sand in your coop and leave it there untouched forever. All Rights Reserved. With the deep bedding method, your bedding releases a little bit of heat as it decomposes. Its an excellent feature for a prey animal, like chickens, because having their heads down eating, particularly if theyre out in the open, makes them vulnerable to predators. Here I discuss all the nitty gritty details of my experience with and research on chicken coop sand, including: Can you use play sand in your chicken coop? Ill report back with how well it works. For another example, the Happy Chicken Coop blog says that filling an 8x12 coop to a 6 inch depth would require 2.5 tons of sand.
I worried something was wrong with her. When the chickens come in from free ranging, they drag in the mud which also gets the nesting boxes and eggs filthy.
I actually use this sand for my chicken coop and run. I used this sand to fill weights for a cantilever umbrella. It stays drier than all other types of bedding. Sand is a material that is very natural to chickens. This is because the sand is blocking the passageway out of the crop. But they actually prefer their sheltered coop dust baths in those cold, snowy months! For a summary of the latest research on this, see my article, Pine shavings in the coop: The secret chicken killer? I used this sand to fill weights for a cantilever umbrella. As a mix of smalll pebbles and coarse sand. I leave the old sand out for the year and let it get rinsed and dried repeatedly through the year by the elements. How in the world is your bedding getting soaking wet? The good news, though, is that once you buy it, you dont have to keep getting more as you do with other types of bedding. That sounds hyperbolic, but really Im just being blunt. If your sand is so coarse it wont fit through your scooper, youre going to have a hard time cleaning the poop outmore on cleaning sand below. I started my coops with pine shavings, hoping to use the deep litter method to keep my chickens warmer over the winter. The sand was perfect for my brick on sand patio project. The BEST luxury coop youll ever buy: Spoil your chickens with Rita Marie's, Chicken coop ventilation: 21 design ideas with pictures, Straw for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons, and how to do it right.
Silica and silicosis explained. This then prevents the chicken from being able to digest any foodthe crop just gets bigger and bigger, the more the chicken eats. For more information on silicosis and chickens, see my article, Will sand bedding kill your chickens? Chicken keepers are unlikely to realize that their play sand is the culprit. I have more on this topic in the section below, How to clean sand bedding in your chicken coop, but I do scoop out the poop every day in my small coop and once every 1-2 weeks in my large coop. Just leaving it there may work for quite awhile, but if you dont keep it clean in the long term, youre going to have major coop sanitation problems. Need Help?
See my article here for more info and sources. It absorbed the excess water that normally would b there for days.also used it under gravel in by the French drain. Its a bag of wet sand. Your coop doesnt have a flooryour sand bedding may get wet if moisture is constantly coming up from the ground. The ammonia in my coop got to a high level because certain types of bacteria flourish on damp bedding and release ammonia. Best price for general sand clean and consistent. However, your chickens will do best with sand if the run is covered.
And when I used pine shavings or straw in my coops, the coops always had a little bit of a poop smell to them no matter what I didexcept when I first removed all the old bedding and put the new stuff in. They didnt have anything that coarse. The first time I felt a chickens full crop was unnerving. I use this brooder heating plate from Amazon in my brooder (the chicks love it!). The delivery cost me $90. This happened to me my first summer raising chickens. This may cause long-term respiratory problems in your chickens, who are very sensitive to poor air quality. But dont take my word for itthe scientific research backs me up on this (see my article, The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings for more information). Every bag the same. Its a bag of wet sand.
I tape the scoop to a broom handle and cut it to my size.
However, I had to pay to get the sand delivered, and thats where it got expensive. Because sand is so good at insulating, I worry it may retain too much heat under the brooder heating plate. The second reason you dont want to use play sand, or any fine-grained sands, is because fine-grained sands are really dusty. Your friends chickens may not ever eat enough play sand for crop impaction, or perhaps the play sand they are eating is passing through their crops just fine. Their access to dust baths outside is also limited in the winter. The dust from fine-grained sands may even eventually cause silicosis in your chickens. Use concrete sand. I actually use this sand for my chicken coop and run. He put the material right where it was needed. These all have potential problems too, though. Although it was not my experience when I used the deep bedding method, many say their coops are noticeably warmer with this method.
Was unable to use it to fill up a plastic base because it was so wet, it just sat in the funnel ans stuck to everything. The best I can find is Quikrete All-Purpose Sand. The chickens looked much less miserable in the coop. Depending on where you live, sand may be low cost in the short run as well. Because a sandy coop is such a cleaner coop, especially if youre scooping out poop daily or at least weekly, sand bedding contains lower bacteria counts.Chickens in a sand coop should have less exposure to other pathogens, like Coccidiosis.
If you have a waterer in your coop that ever leaks or spills a little bit, you run the risk of ammonia building up and of course, the risk of mold growing. I purchased my sand in the early fall and the day the gravel company delivered it, it rained. It works well for that purpose and most other projects requiring all-purpose sand. Ive seen the opposite. NO! An important point here is that even if you have another type of bedding, like pine shavings or straw, if the bedding is getting wet, your chickens are going to really suffer. So there my chickens were, covering themselves in poopy, decomposing pine bedding, looking so innocent and gross. The delivery driver was right on time and very helpful. Unlike many other forms of bedding, like pine shavings, sand is a material that chickens in the wild are likely to see and live on.
And despite the fact that chickens have wonderful dirt outside for dust bathing, when your girls get that itch to dust bathe, some of them dont want to have to go all the way outside. Does your chicken coop need to be off the ground? Oh my god! If you are using electricity in your coop, theres always a chance of fire. This is simply because your coop will have so much less wet poop in it, and because sand is inorganic and not breaking down. Because my chickens are free range, I have not bothered putting bedding in their run (and their runs are not covered). If you know youre not going to be motivated to scoop out the poop daily or at least once every few weeks, your sand will eventually need to be replaced with brand new sand. I wouldnt want it much shallower than that in a large coop. You remove much of the poop through scooping, and the poop thats still left in the coop is dried out.
The pros of using sand in the chicken coop, The cons of using sand in the chicken coop, How sand holds up against other bedding types, When not to use sand for chicken coop bedding, Exactly how to find and buy sand for your chicken coop, Lets start by getting this one thing out of the way. My chickens dont like to leave the coop as much in the bad winter weather, and dust bathing in the sand bedding not only keeps them healthier but gives them something to do. Crop impaction from sand is most common in chicks, but some chicken owners have said this has happened with their adult chickens as well. Sand may be used in the run. If the run is uncovered, the sand will get wet, causing it to clump and potentially harden. Check out the video below to see just how fast a fire can start in your coop if you use organic bedding, like pine shavings, and a heat lampspoiler: within 45 seconds. I worry that the sand may have some pathogens in it from these wild animals and open range livestock. You cant keep your coop dryas I mentioned above, some people said they had sand in their coop that somehow got wet and then froze in the cold weather. Gravel companies have referred to this type of sand as river bank sand, mortar sand, and concrete sand. For the new chicken owner, let me just say something else. And you dont have to have a leaky waterer in your coop for bedding to get dampwatery chicken poops can have the same effect. I mentioned above that if some of my chickens dont feel like going outside, they will dust bathe in the bedding.
What about insulation in the cold winter months? JavaScript is disabled.
Theyd cluck a bunch, scratch around in it excitedly, lay eggs in it, and nest in it. These are not qualities you want in your bedding. It is more course than play sand. Good general purpose sand, easy to use on a building project and excellent value for money.
We have had a lot of rain lately and the sand has drained quickly and kept the area dry.
This year, I plan to cover one of my runs completely and try sand in it. Every 1-2 weeks, I use a shovel with holes in it, like this shovel from amazon, to remove the poop on the floor in my large 10x10 coop. However, I would note that ours wasn't dry. The following sections detail all these fantastic features of sand bedding. Obviously, sand wont work for this because its inorganic. It worked well for this although there are some smaller stones in the sand which you need to look out for so that they don't stop the sand from compacting properly between the blocks. Overall the product was good and served the propose I needed.
flock plans. I enjoyed doing the project myself and saving money. If the sand doesnt work, I may just brood the chicks on paper towels even though that means lots of cleaning and bedding replacement. I ended up using this and mixing it with some dirt.
Although there are some treatments for crop impaction if caught in time, you want to avoid this condition at all costs. Sand bedding is heavier than other bedding, which means its a bit more of a workout putting it in your coop than other types of bedding. Remember, they say that to fill an 8x12 coop with sand to a 6 inch depth, youd need about 2.5 tons of sand. Use it for my above the floor pool as a mat and it function. Easy to use and mix with gravel to create a platform for my garbage cans and at minimum costs. It didnt dry out until summer the next year.
The Chicken Chick, however, has used sand in her run for years. But to give you an idea of how much sand you might need, I needed about 3.15 cubic yards of sand to fill my 10x10 coop to a 4-5 inch depth. When I first added sand to my coop in the heat of the summer, I was amazed at the huge reduction of flies. Not everybody does this step, but it gives me peace of mind. It was not uncommon for me to find several eggs every day with poop smeared on them. That is absolutely horrible! But there are also plenty of anecdotes where play sand has caused major problems. Its probably easiest to just to let your gravel company know how big your coop is and how deep you want it filled, and then ask them for a quote.
You want your sand to be as coarse as possible, while still being fine enough that most of it will sift through your kitty litter scooper. Peat moss for chicken coop bedding: Amazing or dangerous? I needed construction grade sand for my chicken yard. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The pine shavings bedding on top was completely dry but some of the bedding near the floor was getting soaked. I plan on getting more bags in the future. As any chicken owner knows, chickens need grit to help break down their food during digestion. Your chicks are just learning what to eat, and they may eat the bedding, leading to crop impaction and death.
If you read my section below on yearly sand cleaning, youll see that I like to swap out my coop sand for a new pile of sand after a year or so. This is not a sand problem, but a maintenance problem. Does sand make good chicken coop bedding?
I use it for my chickens coop and run .its great. That is also what I have found, will it be ok for chickens? To learn how to build this exact coop, check out my video course and plans. With sand in your coop, you dont have to worry about the increase in moisture leading to a drastic increase in ammonia. I mixed 110 bags with a 2 bag mixer, made it pretty wet so i could do about 25 bags , then start working the edges.
And in the winter, wet sand may freeze. A regular, enclosed coop wont have that exposure to the sun inside and will actually be much cooler. People either believe that sand is a perfect wonderland or that sand is a horror story. This means it retains the moisture from chicken poop longer than more coarse-grained sands. Many chickens get extremely watery poop in the summer months because they are drinking so much more water. ), Im definitely going to try sand. The bricks that I ordered from Home Dep Good for leveling our concrete block wall and for mixing with cement as extra ballast. Even though we barely get rain here, the dew that collected overnight was enough to keep it just slightly damp until summertime. It really is such a nicer living environment for your girls and roos. One last thingif youre new to chickens, regardless of which bedding you choose, youll want to cover the bedding completely with paper towels for the first few days or even a week. You have no idea how gross coops can get.
In my smaller coops, I use just a regular kitty litter scooper every day. I had to wait for the sand to dry out. Thank goodness for husbands who support your chicken addictions! And only sand.
Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures, An excuse to talk chicken with yaw'll .
I do live in the country though, and this gravel company is a lot more expensive than what youd find in a more populated area. Because of this, Ive always felt more comfortable brooding my chicks on fresh pine shavings. And you can even buy pine shavings on Amazon and have them delivered to your front door! Bring a kitty litter scooper with you. Once the following year is up, I swap the now year-old sand in the coop with the sand thats been sitting out for that year. I had to empty the whole coop (and it was a large coop, so this took some effort), let it dry out for a couple of days, and start all over again. Unlike organic bedding materials, sand is not flammable. The winter coop is a lot poopier than the summer coop. The yearly cleaning can be very labor intensive (more on this below).
Set up nice and is fully cured and has a 20k pound water tank on it no issues. One more thing hereif your coop doesnt have a floor, you may have problems with moisture coming up from the bare ground into your sand. Play sand may cause crop impaction in the short term, and it may cause serious respiratory illness in the long term.
They wanted me to give them the size in millimeters, but I had no clue. This means your chickens arent protected from the elements, and your coop needs to be enclosed. Its a one-time deal. Consider using straw instead, and either use the deep litter method or replace the bedding frequently. The chickens walk through the sand to get to the nesting boxes, and the poop and mud either come off completely in the sand (and I scoop it out), or it at least dries a lot. It is ideal for coops in the summertime as long as your coop is enclosed (i.e., four walls and a roof). So the same reason kids are able to use wet play sand to mold and build things like sandcastles is the same reason chickens are at an increased risk for crop impaction. Ive found that sand by far exceeds the other types of bedding when it comes to whats best for my chickens. And, if your chickens sense danger at any time, they can stay hidden for quite a while without eating as long as their crops are full.