Issues with sand in run

[MommyGirl]

Ok guys! Im having some issues with sand in my run. Wanted to see if any of you have any advice? Ive been keeping chickens for a year now and ive got a sand run. I loved it at first the sand seemed clean and stayed loose but now in places it hard as a brick and hard to break up. I try to turn it with an ground areator thingy but its just getting to hard. Should i give up on the sand and which to wood chips or what does everyone think?

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Glad I saw this...Newby here and was just thinking of adding sand to my lil run!
Hope you get answers soon!

 

[bajabirdbrain]

We, too, have been using sand since March of '17 with no negative problems. We occasionally have to add a wheelbarrow load of new sand to fill in some "dust" bathing holes. Our run is covered so the sand never gets wet. Does your sand get wet??

 

[R2elk]

Ok guys! Im having some issues with sand in my run. Wanted to see if any of you have any advice? Ive been keeping chickens for a year now and ive got a sand run. I loved it at first the sand seemed clean and stayed loose but now in places it hard as a brick and hard to break up. I try to turn it with an ground areator thingy but its just getting to hard. Should i give up on the sand and which to wood chips or what does everyone think?

If you wet it down before you try to turn it, it will be much easier to turn. Sand runs are not for everyone. If the wrong stuff gets mixed with the sand , it can become like concrete.

It is entirely possible that wood chips will be more to your liking.

I live on a sand dune so everything here is sand based. It does get hard when things are dry but stays very pliable when things are wet. The plus is that when it is wet, it drains very well.

 

[DobieLover]

Ok guys! Im having some issues with sand in my run. Wanted to see if any of you have any advice? Ive been keeping chickens for a year now and ive got a sand run. I loved it at first the sand seemed clean and stayed loose but now in places it hard as a brick and hard to break up. I try to turn it with an ground areator thingy but its just getting to hard. Should i give up on the sand and which to wood chips or what does everyone think?

I just replied to a new member intro thread with a similar question about sand vs. wood chips.
To me, it's a no brainer. Wood chips all the way!
With sand you have to scoop it to keep it clean. It adds dust to an already dusty environment. It doesn't decompose.
With wood chips, it provides a substrate the birds can scratch through, dust bathe in and it slowly decomposes along with the poop load.
In the over two years I've been running the current setup, I've never cleaned anything out, just add a truck load once a year and rake flat every few months.

 

[R2elk]

It adds dust to an already dusty environment.

Sand in and of itself is not dusty and does not add dust to anything. By far the perceived dust is chicken dander.

 

[DobieLover]

Sand in and of itself is not dusty and does not add dust to anything. By far the perceived dust is chicken dander.

I've not found that to be the case.
I used it in combination with granulated sweet PDZ on my boards and when I eliminated it, I noticed less dust when scooping them.

 

[R2elk]

I've not found that to be the case.
I used it in combination with granulated sweet PDZ on my boards and when I eliminated it, I noticed less dust when scooping them.

Sand does not hold chicken dander in place.

 

[3KillerBs]

I live in the NC Sandhills, just south of the break in the geology so that we actually have some clay mixed with our sand.

In dry weather it's like concrete -- even without the addition of chicken poop dust.

 

[DobieLover]

Sand does not hold chicken dander in place.

I never wrote that it did.
Sand is dusty. I've used it in many construction projects. It's dusty.