Sand instead of shavings

[Suki]

http://japr.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/2/238.full.pdf


I do remember that J Blehm mentioned this as well.




BrownEyes

[Mike Gilbert]

I have abundant sand here, but shavings are a whole lot lighter to clean out.   If I had a big barn with a big door and just one or two pens in it, along with access to a front end loader I would consider it.

[Suki]

Your points are well taken Mike.  What they, and mean the big guys that use it, is rake and sieve much like kitty litter.  I OTOH don't have great access to try it.

[John W Blehm]

I believe the article talks about mortar sand indoors.  Sounds good for a big operation.  As Sue mentioned I suggest sand in pens (outside) to keep birds dry and healthy.  I rototill the sand/manure once or twice a year.

[Beth Curran]

Interesting. I've tried a micro version - brooding ducks is messier than chickens, and sand stays drier than paper or shavings. It wouldn't be hard to screen it and reuse it but I got lazy dumped it in the composter. But for the big commercial houses it could save serious money!

Especially here - the only thing NC has more of than pine trees is sand!

[Rebecca G Howie]

Here in Florida sand is automatic. I throw some shavings or hay in occasionally to give the girls something new to scratch around in. Spent some time in West Virginia this spring and there is a lot of clay in the soil there. We had a lot of rain that blew into the covered run. Then the chickens would get hardened mud balls on their toes and we had to check them and break them off often. Before we realized it one of them lost a nail. Even with all the rain here, I had never seen that. I like the sand because of the drainage and it also seems to manicure the nails. My quail and the few chickens that are on wire grow long nails. Hope to get them on the ground soon.

[Temple DaSilva]

I've been using sand in my runs since I started in chickens about five years ago.  In the last few months, I switched my coops from shavings to sand and love it!  Everything I read said to use natural, washed sand and not manufactured sand which we have around here with all the granite quarries.  I ended up buying bags of washed natural sand from Home Depot.  It would be much cheaper in bulk but it's also easier to haul around a 50# bag instead of trying to move a pile bucket by bucket into my coops. 

Clean up is easy with a kitty litter scoop.  I toss in some powdered lime from time to time, mixing it well into the sand.  It's nice not to have to clean out everything like I did with shavings or have shavings everywhere in the runs.  I do keep my next boxes full of shavings but figured the coop needed something to function as litter and not bedding.

[Suki]

Ditto Temple; I too go to HD for the indoor group and get agricultural lime that I add in to neutralize it.  It's been a lot easier all around.

-Brownie

[Beth Curran]

the chickens would get hardened mud balls on their toes and we had to check them and break them off often. Before we realized it one of them lost a nail.

I've had this happen, too. We have sandy soil, but with clay mixed in and we get so much rain, it never totally dries out. I've been wanting to bring in a couple of loads of sand for the coops but ironically it is pretty expensive here. The tourist communities must have claimed all of it for their beach renourishment projects...

[Schroeder]

A word of warning.  If the lime is going to make its way to your compost/garden soil, it will raise the pH of the soil.  I added composted horse manure to my raised beds from stalls that had been limed.  It caused the pH to skyrocket and it took me years to get it adjusted back down.
Duane

[John W Blehm]

...As Sue mentioned I suggest sand in pens (outside) to keep birds dry and healthy.  I rototill the sand/manure once or twice a year.

It's a beautiful day here in mid Michigan and I spent a few hours tilling the chicken pens.  The white stuff in the photo isn't snow...I sprinkled lime first to till into the soil.

[Rebecca G Howie]

and YUM, all the fresh little goodies when you turn the ground over - a bonanza!

How are you liking your lattice? Is it holding up well for you? I like mine so well I hope to do an additional run soon with more lattice

[John W Blehm]

and YUM, all the fresh little goodies when you turn the ground over - a bonanza!

How are you liking your lattice? Is it holding up well for you? I like mine so well I hope to do an additional run soon with more lattice

With all the tilling I did in 13 pens I didn't see any worms or bugs...which is a good thing, since chickens can get internal parasitic worms from earthworms and insects.  I believe that the roofing over the outside pens makes the ground dry enough that the worms moves out to moister soil, so that was an added bonus to the roofing. 

The lattice is great.  I've slipped some 2' by 8' pieces between my bantam condos that are side by side and it helps reduce the cockfights between pens. 

[Suki]

CountrySide Daily doesn't like sand if it's outdoors in the winter...Rebecca in FLA doesn't have that problem and I only use sand indoors but I'm thinking of ditching it and going to wire cage floors.  The cost of shavings keeps going up and sand in winter has a tendency to be waterlogged and weigh 3x as much as the bag states.


http://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/poultry/chicken-coops-housing/bedding-for-chickens-safe-and-easy-winter-coop-heat-and-insulation/

[John W Blehm]

CountrySide Daily doesn't like sand if it's outdoors in the winter...Rebecca in FLA doesn't have that problem and I only use sand indoors but I'm thinking of ditching it and going to wire cage floors.  The cost of shavings keeps going up and sand in winter has a tendency to be waterlogged and weigh 3x as much as the bag states.

http://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/poultry/chicken-coops-housing/bedding-for-chickens-safe-and-easy-winter-coop-heat-and-insulation/

I quickly read the article and the linked one, http://fresheggsdaily.com/2013/07/the-real-scoop-on-using-sand-in-your.html.  I missed where they say they don't like sand outdoors in the winter, so I don't understand their logic on that one.  I think both were poorly written and although there is some truth to what the author's write like almost every article, they don't sound like they write from experience.  The one article quotes others, but even then much of the reasoning is either backwards or convoluted.