Unlike organic bedding materials, sand is not flammable. Jacks. Quikrete is all-purpose sand and is more course than play sand. Chickens dont bedthey roost, preferably on wood of some kind. It has also been sifted so that it's moderately coarse. Actually if you read on the bags of play sand it does have a warning that it can cause cancer. Even More Pros In addition to the "pros" already mentioned, here are a few more reasons to choose sand for your chicken coop: Cost-effective. QUIKRETE all-purpose sand is a washed, properly graded coarse sand with multiple uses. For more on this, see my review of the scientific literature in The best chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings. Pine shavings have not been sitting fully exposed in the great outdoors. That could be heavy, and your floor could break down. Packaging: Available in 50 lb (22.7 Kg) and 100 lb (45.4 Kg) bags. What size of drainage rock(gravel) would be most appropriate to use underneath the sand? If youre planning to use sand in your run, you must prepare the ground for sand. I suspect this is the same for chickens as they have very sensitive respiratory systems. Is this a good plan? 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. None of them have all of these qualities. 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. This product is fantastic for increasing the grit intake of chickens. Bring a kitty litter scooper with you. Table of Contents Join More Than 15,000 Chicken Enthusiasts Who Have Already Subscribed. Coop De Chickenville~My Favorite Chickens and Life, Current Social Media Chicken Feed Craze - posted testing results. Also for making concrete. NO! We are just changing over to sand. How I use these supplies is explained in detail below. You dont get the smells with sand that you do with straw, pine shavings, and the like, because the sand isnt breaking down. 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. Some folks freshen the sand using PDZ (zeolite), wood ashes, or Diatomaceous Earth it also encourages dust bathing. The chickens love turning everything over. I would avoid cedar because it can cause issues with their respiratory system. While such soils would be a mixture of soil and sand, some plant growth stages do well with one or the other, or well-mixed small quantities of each. Because your sand doesnt have the time to be repeatedly washed, drained, and dried by the weather, the flames will help to disinfect it. Stay away from play sand. I used sand in my coop before my girls were old enough to safely free range all day. Multi-use product. I didnt realize one of the drinkers was leaking the tiniest bit. This is probably the stuff that can freeze solid in winter, cook the chickens feet in summer, and has minimal insulation properties. Line the bottom of the run with straw or a bedding alternative. And, once again, the research also backs this upsand bedding keeps a coop cooler. They can be used separately or together, your choice. Product Type :Tools Package Dimensions :13.5" L X3.5" W X21.0" H Country Of Origin :United States Package Weight :49.9Lbs See more product details Customers also search What's in the box Cat litter scoop cleans out solids in coop, rake in run . They should be able to help you find the perfect sand. If you decide to use sand, make sure it is the right type. Research backs this up as well see my article here. My ladies take a positive delight in messing up a clean coop and creating a small dust storm! weight limit 50 pound of All-Purpose Sand Quikrete All-Purpose Sand 50 lb. This was so helpful! If they didnt have their coop sand, Id have to make special arrangements to make sure they were able to continue dust bathing outside. Now that we have two large dogs my current flock have to be kept in a large pen with a coup/enclosed run in the middle. So, Im really not sure how they determined the grain size of their supply. This means your chickens arent protected from the elements, and your coop needs to be enclosed. Its a range of different sizes. Would this work? Pica in Goats: Why is My Goat Eating Dirt. At best, chickens living in these conditions will be extremely uncomfortable. We use two bug zappers just outside the coops and the flies die and fall, making fun crispy snacks for the girls in the morning. Eventually, the sand will sink into the mud necessitating new sand. It didnt dry out until summer the next year. I use sand here in the Mohave dessert and I love it. Just for the sake of being totally accurate heresand is actually terrible at absorbing moisture, but it releases moisture so well that it just doesnt matter. You will need to remove all the sand from your coop and use the flamethrower to thoroughly flush your sand. . Because newly hatched chicks have not had exposure to outside pathogens yet, too much exposure too early can cause them to get sick and die. Of course, if you have an OCD personality, then whatever you choose as flooring will be uber-clean! During COLD weather hay is perfect! (Vancouver). Admittedly, it would seem that cleanliness is a huge bonus to the chicken keeper. The crop is like a little storage pouch. Apparently, even the experts cant agree! Is construction sand the same as paver sand? If your run area is a muddy mess in the winter and spring, you might consider laying down 3-4 inches of gravel under the sand. They will deliver. All Poultry Supplies Egg Care & Accessories Poultry Equipment Poultry Feed Poultry Health Products . Specifications Dimensions Assembled Depth (in inches) 17 Assembled Height (in inches) 5 Assembled Weight (in lbs) 44 Assembled Width (in inches) 13 Can be used as a fine aggregate in Concrete Mix Can be used to provide traction on Snow and Ice. The wood shavings were super stinky, grow ALOT (and I do mean a ton) of bacteria, were expensive over time because how often they had to be changed and labor intensive to replace because it had to be completely removed. When a chicken eats something, it sits in her crop before going through the digestive process. Sand is a material that is very natural to chickens. Fine-grained play sand or beach sand do not make good bedding as these may cause major health problems for chickens. ): 50 Commercial grade medium Commercial grade fine Patio paver Sort & Filter Sort & Filter Sort By Featured Best Sellers Highest Rated New Arrivals Sand Type All-purpose (16) Commercial grade medium (4) Patio paver (3) Play sand (3) Commercial grade fine (2) Dry mason (2) Traction (2) Washed sand (2) 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. The sand becomes somewhat solid and cuts down the mud tracked into the buildings. Have you mix sand (desert sand) with manure from layer? Mix with Portland Cement and All Purpose Gravel to make concrete. Quikrete All-Purpose Gravel (BOM #105521) is a multi-use product for a variety of decorative and landscaping applications. Obviously, sand wont work for this because its inorganic. This stuff looks like what you would see on a riverbed. I have no idea if this is the case, but its a concern. Nope, she had just filled her crop full for bedtime. Here it is: Chickens dont actually need beddingwhat they need is litter. But the good news is that sand dries up very quickly because it does not retain a lot of moisture for too long. It also can be hazardous to humans over the long term. 1113) is safe for use in sand boxes intended for children's use. All-purpose sand is washed and coarse, making it clean and water-retaining. Twenty-two clawed feet tunneling along the fence line, weakening the defensive boundary we'd installed around their coop to make it safe. Consider using straw instead, and either use the deep litter method or replace the bedding frequently. The short of it: your chicken may die a horrible death if she gets crop impaction. With sand in your coop, you dont have to worry about the increase in moisture leading to a drastic increase in ammonia. My chickens dont like rain! This then prevents the chicken from being able to digest any foodthe crop just gets bigger and bigger, the more the chicken eats. You can learn at your own pace and on your own time with this pre-recorded online course. I have never amended the sand with other products. If you do not put erosion protection your sand will go through the gravel base absolutely, but you need a thicker layer of sand or your chickens will tear the fabric out as well. I like that there are less bugs for the chickens to eat so they have less risk of worms.There is no offensive odour or flies, and the girls can use the grit, dig and bath in the sand. I only have the natural sandy dirt floor in mine & they seem to be doing fine. I live in southwest Florida and was wondering if the sand you are using is the natural Florida sand in every yard?? I use about 10 bags of sand and all the old goes in my garden. It's perfect for what they need for dust bathing and grit. Chicken sand bedding alternatives include wood shavings, straw, and hemp. Put simply, they need something to poop in. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. It was absolutely disgusting. Silicosis is a painful and basically downright awful lung disease caused by breathing in small silica (quartz) particles that cause scarring in the lungs. Cheers! Still, if you do a quick housekeeping every day by removing the fresh deposits and hanging flypapers, flies should be minimal anyway. I suspect this amount of heat is greater than the heat retained through the insulating benefit of sand. 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. I live in the Willamette Valley (Oregon) which has a moderate temperature throughout the year (so coop insulation is not an issue), but very wet, moist, and muddy. ), Im definitely going to try sand. The following sections detail all these fantastic features of sand bedding. This happened to me my first summer raising chickens. Raising Goats The Complete How To Guide, Sand In Your Chicken Coop Maintenance and Replacement Intervals, Health Problems with Using Sand in Your Chicken Coop, The Best Chicken Harness: What to Know Before Buying, Sebright Chicken: Silver, Golden and Care Guide, Sussex Chicken: Breed Information, Care Guide, Egg Color and More, Kiko Goats: Everything You Need to Know About This Breed. Chickens really prefer to live in clean bedding. The outside run is covered because it rains here alot. This prompted us to look at the positives and negatives of using sand as a bedding material in the coop and run. 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